Digital Hearts
by Shritistrang
Summary: Dark creatures called the Heartless are chasing after Ken, Kari finds a mysterious keychain, and a strange Digimon called Heartmon appears out of nowhere... and that's just the beginning. Crossover with Kingdom Hearts.
1. Ken, the Heartless Emperor?

Author's Notes:

Another one of my stories I started, but yet never finished. Well, I still hope you enjoy what I have up to now.

* * *

The darkness was upon him. He could feel it. It had been lurking in the corners of his mind for some time, but now... Now it has taken shape.

Wheezing hardly, Ken turned around a corner and dashed down the dark alley. But still, he couldn't escape his pursuers.

And then they appeared, black as a real shadow, with eerily gleaming eyes, twitching antennae and spindle-like fingers, they emerged out of the ground as if it was the surface of a lake.

"What do you want from me?" Ken cried. "Leave me alone! Haven't I already suffered enough?"

The strange creatures didn't respond with voices, but it seemed to Ken as if they would reply in the very innards of his body. He clutched his heart and winced in pain.

'Torturer... despot... murdered... you're evil. You did countless crimes.'

"No!" he shouted and backed off. "That was in the past. I'm not the Digimon Emperor anymore. They forgave me. I'm a Digidestined now, you hear me? A Digitestined..."

But his words couldn't hold them at bay, and then he was cornered... they approached him from every side.

"SPIKING STRIKE!"

Thrusting forward with the shining energy spike that emerged from his gauntlet, Ken's loyal Digimon partner Stingmon came descending from the sky and pierced one of the unknown monsters in the middle.

The being burst apart in a cloud of darkness, while something resembling a glittering heart rose up into the sky, where it vanished.

"Stingmon!" Ken gasped in relief. "You came..."

"Of course I came," Stingmon said. "You can always count on me, Ken!" He defended himself and his partner from the attack of another Shadow with a swift kick. "By the way, what are those creatures?"

"I don't know..." Ken muttered. "But every time they talk to me... I feel this stinging pain deep within my heart..."

"Talk?" Stingmon wondered and attacked two of the Shadows at once. "I don't hear them talking. You okay, Ken?"

He finished the last of them off with a final 'Spiking Strike'.

Ken glanced upwards, to where the glittering hearts of the Heartless vanished. "I don't know, Stingmon..." he whispered. "I just don't know..."

Unbeknown to them, the battle had been watched by a silent figure that was standing on top of a building. Hiding its face within a black hood, the mysterious figure watched the pair for a while, before retreating through a gate of darkness that appeared behind it...

* * *

"It's an invitation!" Sora said in excitement, the spiky-haired boy pumping his fist in the air, while showing the small piece of paper to his two best friends. "See?"

"That's right!" Kairi smiled. "An invitation to a royal ball, a big festival with visitors from many different worlds."

"Sounds like a big party, huh?" Riku said. The silent, white-haired boy snatched the paper away from his buddy. "Still, the king doesn't mention the fact that we are the guests of honor..."

"Huh? Why should he do that?" Sora wanted to know.

Riku shook his head while Kairi giggled. "Silly," the red-haired girl chuckled. "After all, you're the chosen wielder of the keyblade, right? And you two helped in defeating Ansem... uh, I mean Xehanort's Heartless, as well as the Organization XIII, and saved countless worlds. Doesn't that count?"

Sheepishly, Sora scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well... Donald and Goofy helped a bunch too, you know? Well, it certainly sounds like fun... you wanna come too, Kairi?"

"What a stupid question! Of course I do! Or do you believe only you and Riku got an invitation? Besides..." She smirked. "I am one of the Seven Princesses of Heart, you know?"

"I really wonder if I could feel welcome at the party..." Riku sighed.

"Why do you think that?" Sora asked his friend, puzzled.

Riku turned around. "You know what I did under that Heartless' influence, right? I suppose not everyone could have forgiven me that easily, right?" He just had to think what he almost did to poor Pinocchio.

"Riku, quit speaking such rubbish," Kairi scolded him. "And remember that it wasn't you who did that, but that Ansem impostor."

The boy gave her a sad smile. "He couldn't have invaded my heart if I didn't let him in, correct?"

"That still doesn't mean you're to fault," Sora exclaimed. "True, one could argue that you did some stupid things... but did I hold a grudge against you? No. Because I know that you have a good heart. And the king thinks so as well."

"Not to forget Donald, Goofy and me," Kairi nodded. "So stop worrying about the past and think about your friends in the present. You're coming with us to that party and you're going to have fun there, understood?"

Riku stayed silent for a moment, then he chuckled. "Then I guess I have no choice but to do that, huh?"

He turned back around and grinned at his friends. "So, when's that Gummi Ship coming to pick us up?"

Sora grinned back. "That's more like it, pal! They wrote they will come the day after tomorrow, the day before the big festival starts."

He gave his two friends a hug left and right. "Man, I'm so looking forward to see everybody again... and I'll introduce you to my other friends."

Kairi laughed. "Well, I'm looking forward to it."

If they would only know that somewhere, in a world they had yet to explore, the darkness was gathering once again...

* * *

"Uh... you sure she won't scratch me?" the saleswoman asked in a fearful tone of voice. "I mean, she's kinda big for a cat..."

"I assure you that my friend is as harmless as a little kitty-cat, ma'am," Kari told the nervous owner of the clothes store.

Gatomon grinned. "I won't scratch you or bite you... I'm just here to help Kari choose a present for our friend's birthday."

"Well... if you say so, then I guess I'll just believe you," the woman said. "Now, Miss... did you decide which dress you would like?"

Kari smiled and nodded. "Yup, I'll take the pink one. That's just Mimi's color."

* * *

Shortly after, Kari and Gatomon left the store with their shopping bags. Gatomon was slightly staggering under the size of her bag, but as a Champion Digimon, she was certainly strong enough to carry it.

"Geeze, Kari..." she muttered. "Your present for Mimi sure is pricey... Where did you get all that money from, anyway?"

"Oh, I just put some aside in case I would need it for something special... And the last time Mimi was here in Japan, she, Sora and I were just strolling through the mall, when all of a sudden, Mimi stared into a display window, saw the dresses inside and was like: 'Oh wow, look at those cute dresses! I wish I had one like that...' And so I decided to buy her one for her birthday."

Gatomon shrugged. As a Digimon, she had no need for any sort of clothing. Only when she digivolved to Angewomon would she wear some clothes... and those were provided by the Digivolution itself.

All of a sudden, multiple shouts of surprise attracted their attention. The pedestrians yelled in panic when suddenly, the sleek form of Stingmon came flying out of a side road, slamming right into the wall of a building.

"Hey, looks like Ken is in trouble," Gatomon shouted. "We better get over there."

Kari groaned. "Evil Digimon again? Why can't they just stop bothering us?"

But when she saw the strange monstrosity that stepped out of the side street where Stingmon came from, she certainly was surprised.

"That's not a Digimon..." she realized. "What... what the heck is that thing?"

It was taller than a bus, and looked just like a giant, purple armor come to life. It's claw-tipped gauntlets and the massive boots didn't seem to be attached to the main body at all, but the monster moved as if every part of its body would be connected. On its chest, they could see a strange emblem.

Then Kari saw Ken. He was standing on the side of the street, clutching his Digivice in one hand, and his chest with the other hand. What was wrong with him?

"Ken!" she shouted. "Over here!"

He looked up upon hearing her voice and came running her way. Meanwhile, Gatomon prepared herself to fight.

"Kari, I'm ready!"

Kari nodded and raised her own D-3 Digivice.

"Digi-Armor Energize!"

Gatomon gleamed with the brightness of light.

"GATOMON ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TO... NEFERTIMON, ANGEL OF LIGHT!"

The sphinx-like Armor Digimon took off from the ground and soared towards the bulky form of the monster, which slowly approached the fallen form of Stingmon.

"Cat's Eye Beam!" Out of her headdress, twin beams of light came shooting at the armored creature and hit its helmet, which made it spin around. When it came to a stop, it turned around to face the newcomer.

"I am your opponent!" Nefertimon exclaimed, hovering in front of him.

Ken and Kari met each other behind a parked car.

"Ken, what happened?" Kari wanted to know. "What is that thing?"

"I... I don't know." Ken clutched his head. "I only know that it and other creatures were following us through town the whole day long. And every time I look at them, I feel this stinging pain in my head... and my heart."

"Definitely not your everyday Digimon," Kari realized. "Did it show any signs of intelligence?"

"I'm not sure..." Ken groaned. "For a moment, I thought I could hear their voices... but then, they just seem to act out of instinct."

"Well, it certainly can't continue with its rampage just like that," Kari said. "Hopefully Stingmon and Nefertimon can take care of it, we would need Davis or Yolei for a DNA Digivolution..."

The Guard Armor saw another enemy that had showed up. It decided that its first opponent had been weakened, so it shouldn't be a big bother to take him out. Its boots should be able to take care of him by themselves.

Nefertimon watched in surprise as the monster's metal boots suddenly detached themselves from the main body and came stomping towards Stingmon, who was just starting to recover. The rest of the body came floating her way, with spinning gauntlets.

"Well, aren't we tricky..." she grumbled. "But you don't look like you can fly just like me." And with an elegant pirouette, she dodged the Armor's assault. At the same time, she stopped the metal boots with a cry of "ROSETTA STONE!"

The magical missile hit the left boot and broke it apart. The remaining boot seemed to twitch in surprise, but it still jumped up to smash down on Stingmon's body.

Stingmon raised his hands as he winced, expecting to be squashed under the attack.

"FIRE ROCKET!"

Three blazing fireballs came flying out of nowhere and intercepted the flying path of the boot, destroying it.

Stingmon managed to gather himself. "Flamedramon..."

"Hey, I want some part of the action too, you know?" the armored dragon of courage smirked.

Further away, his partner Davis cheered him on: "Yeah, well done Flamedramon! Show that tin can what you can do."

The Guard Armor noticed another opponent. It realized that victory wouldn't be as easy as it had assumed. Still, the overwhelming craving for pure hearts made it crazy with desire, so it stayed to fight.

It's gauntlets shot forward to hit Nefertimon in mid-air, but the Heartless didn't bargain for Digmon.

"Gold Rush!" the insectoid underground Digimon shouted as he emerged from the ground, shooting his nose and claw drills at the Guard Armor.

The big explosion destroyed both gauntlets at once, so that only the madly spinning main torso and the helmet were left.

"Dammit, stand still!" Flamedramon cursed. "I can't get a clear shot."

"Allow us," Pegasusmon said while he flew at Nefertimon's side.

Together, they flew a wide arc. "GOLDEN NOOSE!"

The golden band of light wrapped itself tightly around the Guard Armor's torso and prevented it from spinning. It also held it in place.

"All yours, Flamedramon," Nefertimon shouted.

That's all their fiery friend needed to hear. "FIRE ROCKET!"

His attack hit the monstrous fiend right in the middle.

The torso shook around wildly, while from its inside, beams of light were pouring out. Slowly, it dissipated into nothing, while a glittering heart came floating out of its top, vanishing in the sky.

"Thanks for your help," Wormmon told his friends after they had reverted to their Rookie forms (or Champion, in Gatomon's case).

"Ah, we never leave a good friend hanging," Armadillomon grinned.

Davis and the others came running to Kari and Ken.

"Hey Kari, are you all right?" Davis asked instantly.

"Yes, I am... thanks, Davis."

"How nice of you to notice that I'm here as well..." Ken grumbled. "But I'm fine as well, you don't have to ask."

Davis chuckled sheepishly. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that, you know? But, see... the girls always need some additional protection."

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" Yolei and Kari yelled right into the goggle-wearing boy's ears from both sides at once.

T.K. and Patamon chuckled as their self-declared 'leader' winced under the acoustic assault of the two girls.

Cody inspected the battlefield. Not a trace of their enemy was left.

"Like a Digimon..." he murmured. "But, it didn't dissolve into data, that's for sure."

He looked up to where the strange heart had vanished. "But if not data... then what was this being composed of?"

He then saw something lying on the ground. "Huh? What's that?"

The small boy picked up the tiny chain with the strange, key-shaped pendant...

* * *

Inside a dark place, a cloaked figure looked up from what it was doing.

"The first fragment has been found," it said. "We have to make sure to find the others before anyone else does."

Two gleaming eyes appeared in the darkness. "Don't worry," a female voice purred. "I'll take care of them if you wish. I still have to pay them back for what they did to my sister..."

The cloaked figure turned around and nodded. "Very well, I leave it in your hands, BlackGatomon... or should I say 'in your paws'?"

The black-furred feline stepped out of the shadows with a smirk on her face. "You know, for a Heartless, you sure got a nice sense of humor."

The stranger chuckled at that. "Well, if you say so... But take care when engaging the white feline... you don't want to end like your sister, do you?"

"Well, you know what they say: All cats are gray in the dark!"

And she laughed.


	2. Two different festivities

The grand Audience Chamber of Disney Castle was filled with music, chatter and laughter. People of all kinds of sizes, ages and races were assembled in the big hall.

In one corner of the room, a silent man holding a glass of wine was standing. Leon, formerly known as Squall Leonheart, was watching the other guests of King Mickey and Queen Minnie intently.

He realized with a tinge of envy that almost all of the guests of honor have arrived here in the company of some associate of the opposite gender...

He saw Princess Ariel of Atlantica (in human form, of course) talking to her husband, Prince Eric, and their young daughter, Princess Melody. He saw Jasmine, princess of Agrabah, with her beloved Aladdin, and Hercules, the son of Zeus, with his girlfriend Megara. Also present at the festival were Jane Porter with her fiance Tarzan (who was looking pretty uncomfortable in a tuxedo), Fa Mulan and Li Shang as ambassadors of the 'Land of Dragons' and the former Beast, Prince Beau, with his wife Belle.

'Even Sora has some female companionship,' Leon noted as he looked up at the podium, where Sora and his friends were talking to the king and queen. 'He sure looks happy, standing up there, next to Kairi...'

He didn't know if Rika would hold any grudge against his friend because of this, but if that was the truth, the white-haired boy didn't show it.

Kairi looked really nice in that pink dress, a present from Queen Minnie...

Leon imagined how Rinoa would look if she wore that dress...

Suddenly, his thoughts were being interrupted by the gruff voice of his friend Cid:

"Feeling melancholic, old boy?" The head engineer of Radiant Garden snickered. "I noticed how you looked up there to Sora and Kairi. Would you, by any chance, thinking of a certain girl with long, black hair?"

"Stop that," Leon replied, although he had to snicker. "You know I don't like it if you tease me."

"Well, it seems to be the only entertainment I seem to get here," Cid said. "That, and this nice punch." He shook his head. "I tell ya, it's a nice party and all, but... those furry fellows really don't know how to throw a REAl party. I mean, where are the dancers? The fireworks? The strong stuff?"

"I have the feeling people like us will always feel out of place, with so many members of nobility around..."

"Too true," Cid sighed. "It's just not the right place or a practical thinking guy like me."

"Excuse me," a voice addressed them. "But are you, by any chance, residents of Radiant Garden?"

Leon and Cid turned around their heads. Standing in front of them was some humanoid bird wearing a strange head and a pair of glasses.

"That we are," Cid nodded. "And you might be..."

"Oh, my apologies," the stranger smiled. "My name is Gyro Gearloose, the castle's head engineer."

Cid smirked. "Well, in that case we are colleagues. I am the head engineer of Radiant Garden, myself."

"You must be Mr. Cid Highwind," Gearloose assumed.

"Yup, that's me! Although just Cid will do. You heard of me?"

Gearloose nodded. "Oh, yes. Donald told me so much about you. He said that you once dealt with Gummi Blocks, is that correct?"

"Well, yeah... I once owned a lil' store back when we lived in Traverse Town... those Gummi Ships always have fascinated me, you know?"

"I developed my own theories about Gummi Block properties," Gearloose said, a glint of excitement in his eyes. Leon knew this glint all too well: He always saw it when Cid started to talk about his own inventions.

Cid grinned widely. "Well, I suppose we could always exchange our knowledge, right?"

"Of course," Gearloose nodded. "You see, the thing about Gummi Blocks that always made me wonder was the fact that..."

Leon chuckled as he saw the two scientists vanish among the crowd, all the time chattering.

"Looks like Cid found a soul mate," a gentle and amused voice exclaimed.

Aerith Gainsborough, another member of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, stepped up to her friend's side. She was wearing an elegant, red dress today.

"So, having fun?" she asked the swordsman.

"I'm getting bored as good as I can," Leon sighed.

Aerith giggled. "Sorry, but I'm afraid there are no fighting contests on this party." She looked closer at his face. "Something on your mind?"

Leon pondered if he should tell her that he had been thinking about Rinoa, but decided against that. "Well, I was worried about Yuffie... do you think she's able to take care of everything all by herself, back home?"

"Don't worry about that," Aerith said. "Yuffie isn't nearly as absent-minded as most people believe her to be. Besides, she always has Tron to help her out."

"I suppose you're right..."

* * *

"Dammit, DAMMIT!" Yuffie ranted. "Where is that cursed file?"

"Calm down, Yuffie," Tron's voice came out of the speakers. The security program of the Radiant Garden main frame tried his best to calm down the upset ninja girl. "And please, stop pounding the keyboard with your fists."

"I know, I KNOW!" Yuffie screamed in frustration. "But I tell you, this computer drives me nuts. How on earth do people like Cid cope with those gadgets? Every time I try to do anything with that thing, it won't do whatever I tell it to do."

"Look, maybe you should just shut down the program and try again from the start..." Tron suggested.

"Again? Tron, that would be the SEVENTH time today. I have a better idea, what if I just move that file over there..."

"AAAACK!" Tron yelled. "NOT ME! THE OTHER FILE! THE OTHER FILE! NOOO! NOT INTO THE RECYCLE BIN!"

"Oops!" Yuffie quickly stepped away from the computer console. She giggled nervously. "Maybe I should ask someone else to do this..."

"That would be the best," Tron groaned. His voice was weak. Even Merlin would do a better job than Yuffie, he thought. Even if that old magician preferred magic over science.

* * *

"WOW!" Mimi squealed as she finished admiring Kari's present. "Kari, that dress is sooo cute! Thank you so much!"

Kari smiled. "It was my pleasure."

"Still, I think my present is the most useful one," Izzy pointed out.

"Yeah right," Matt chuckled. "Mimi can't have enough electronic diaries, can she?"

"For your information, I think Izzy's present was useful as well as cute," Mimi informed the blonde guitarist while looking at the table where her other already unwrapped presents were placed. Among them... an electronic diary Izzy had discovered while searching around the Internet. And it was even in her favorite color... pink!

"Let's see, what have we here?" Mimi murmured as she weighted another present in her hands. "This is yours, Sora, is it? What could it be, I wonder...?"

Mimi's best friend grinned at her. "Why don't you open it and find out?"

Mimi grinned back. "I think I'll just do that."

Meanwhile, Davis, Veemon and Armadillomon were busy attacking the buffet.

"Hey, this is a birthday party, not an 'all-you-can-eat' restaurant," Tai reminded them.

"So what?" Davis mumbled in-between bites. "I don't believe Mimi has just bought all this food just so we can look at it, right?"

"Well, at least you could have waited until she has finished unwrapping her presents." Hawkmon shook his head as he saw Armadillomon gobble down an entire plate of peeled peanuts.

Yolei, who was standing next to her Digimon partner, grinned. "You know those three... they never stop when they see any free food. Well, at least Armadillomon's partner is not like that... right, Cody?"

But the youngest of the Japanese Digidestined didn't respond.

Yolei turned around. "Hello? Earth to Cody, are you still there?"

Cody looked up from what he was holding in his hands. "Huh? Oh, sorry, what did you say?"

"Say, you've been pretty quiet the whole day long," Yolei said while walking up to him. "And just what is that thing you've been holding onto all the time? Another present for Mimi?"

"Did I hear another present?" the once-again-pink-haired girl shouted as she instantly was at her younger friend's side. "Oooh, that looks really nice, Cody... don't tell me you bought me some jewelry."

"Oh no, no, I found this after that battle we had... you know, with that strange armor creature."

"You still haven't told us how that happened," Joey spoke up. "Did it just pop out of nowhere or what?"

Ken, who had been silent until now, gave off a sigh. "No, it... it was after me."

"After you?" Sora wondered. "How could you tell?"

"Because..." His friends could tell that it was hard for him to keep on talking. "Because I could feel their intentions... deep in my heart. Not only of that armor creature, but also of those dark, shadowy things."

"They were really creepy," Wormmon shuddered. "I never saw any Digimon like that before."

"Those definitely weren't Digimon," Gatomon exclaimed. "I had a bad feeling as well when fighting that monster... as if it were corporeal darkness."

"Perhaps they know about... what I did in my past..." Ken whispered.

They all went silent for a few seconds after that.

"Hey, come on now, people," Kari suddenly scolded. "This is Mimi's birthday party, remember? We don't want any brooding or sulking around here. We can still worry about that tomorrow, right?"

"I totally agree," Armadillomon said - before grabbing a bowl of crackers and shoving them down his mouth.

"Perhaps you're right," Ken sighed. "Sorry, Mimi, I didn't want to ruin your party."

"It's okay," she waved it off. "But you know, I'm still kinda curious about those creatures... I wonder what they were here for. And where did they come from?"

"Cody... this pendant you got there... it had just been lying there, on the ground?" Izzy asked. Cody nodded and held it up. Now everyone could see: It was a silvery chain with a pendant that was shaped like a key... and it also had some sort of symbol engraved on one side.

"Hmmm... I think I've seen this before," Tai said as he looked closer at the keychain. "Looks... familiar, somehow."

"Really?" Veemon asked and snatched the pendant out of Cody's grasp. "Lemme see!"

"Hey, I wanted to see it too," Davis protested and reached for the pendant. "C'mon, give it to me, Veemon!"

"You're both very childish," Sora huffed and grabbed the pendant herself. "This doesn't belong to you. Cody is the one who found it." She smiled and handed it back to the small boy.

"Yes, maybe... but still, I only found it..."

"Well, then you just hold onto it until you find the real owner." Yolei winked.

Cody nodded and once again looked at the small key. That symbol... could it be?

"Hey, guys! That's... that's the Crest of Light!"

"You don't say!" Tai gasped, taken aback.

"Really?" Kari said in amazement. "My crest? But then... maybe it has been left there by someone so we could find it. I mean, I'm not only the holder of the Crest of Light, but also of the Digi-Egg of Light."

She reached out to touch the key dangling down from Cody's hand...

"Hold on, Kari," Gatomon shouted. "Let's wait a second before we..."

She never got to finish that sentence, as suddenly, when Kari touched the keychain, a gleaming light poured out of it and blinded the room's occupants with a bright flash.

When the light finally dimmed down and they could see again, Kari noticed that the light was starting to flow into the middle of the room, where it slowly began to take shape.

"A Digi-Egg?" she gasped.

T.K. shook his head. "No, it's too big for that."

Then the light vanished and they all could see just what was sitting there on the ground.

"A Digimon?" Mimi asked.

It looked cute, a little bit smaller than Veemon, like some sort of mouse with big, round ears and a knobby nose. Its fur was beige and white on its front. Also, on the stomach, there was a pink heart symbol.

The little figure blinked, looked around the room and smiled.

"Hello, I am Heartmon! Is anyone of you the chosen wielder of the Keyblade?"


	3. Clueless Digimon on a mission

"Sora!" A certain, anthropomorphic dog with the goofiest voice you could ever imagine (that's probably where he got his name from) shouted in joy as he came running up to the throne where his old buddies were standing and chatting.

"Geez, don't run me over here, Goofy," the wielder of the first Keyblade snickered.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come to see you earlier," the captain of the guard apologized. "But with all those festivities, I've sure been kept very busy. But..." he smiled at his old friend. "I always have the time to come by and say hello to a good friend. I missed you, Sora."

He then looked over to Riku and Kairi and waved. "Of course, I missed you guys too. By the way, nice dress, Kairi!"

Kairi snickered. "Thanks, Goofy! It was a present from the queen."

"By the way, where is she?" Goofy looked around searchingly.

"She went over to Princesses Jasmine and Ariel to talk about diplomatic ties between our worlds," King Mickey explained. "So, Goofy... if you're here, who's making sure the other guards don't slack off?"

"Ah, dontcha worry about that, your Majesty!" Goofy grinned. "Gladstone's taking care of everything."

"Ah, then I think I don't need to worry," the king nodded. "I know Gladstone will take care of things."

"I bet he will..." Donald grumbled in his quacking voice.

"Who's this 'Gladstone' guy?" Sora asked. "You don't seem to like him very much, Donald..."

The king chuckled. "Well, he and Donald don't get along with each other very well, that's true... You see, Gladstone Gander has been Donald's rival ever since they both have fallen in love with Daisy."

"Yup, it stills pains Gladstone that Daisy seems to have chosen Donald by now," Goofy explained.

"And he better keep his hands off her..." Donald snarled, which sounded weird when done by a duck.

"Um, met any of your other friends, Sora?" Kairi quickly asked. She saw how the subject was a tender spot for Donald, and every talk about rivalries reminded her of the days when Sora and Riku always had to compete with each other, something she had never liked.

"Well, I already talked to Aladdin and Hercules," Sora said. "We chatted about the good ol' days and how we fought at each other's side... Oh, you gotta hear this: When Hercules heard how Aladdin helped us fight the Heartless in Agrabah, he offered him the chance to fight in the Coliseum, as soon as inter-worldly travel would be officially possible."

"I think Aladdin has the chance to reach at least the finals of the Hercules Cup," Goofy exclaimed.

"Well, I've been really hoping to meet some other friends, but then again, I can understand why Jack or Simba couldn't come." He chuckled. "I mean, for most of the guests it would be kinda unsettling when they are suddenly confronted by a walking, talking skeleton or a grown-up lion."

"Oh, I didn't know I was THAT scary, Sora," an amused voice said behind him.

Sora turned around. "S-simba? W-what happened to you?"

The now antropomorphic lion chuckled. "Knew this would surprise you. Well, there was this wizard called Merlin, and he offered me, Nala and our daughter the chance to attend to the festivities by turning us into bipeds for the day."

In irritation, he rubbed against the material of his tuxedo, careful not to slice up the fabric with his claws. "Still, I can't really get used to those 'clothes'... are they really necessary?"

The other laughed at that. "I'm sorry for the inconveniences this might cause you, King Simba," Mickey apologized. "But most of our guests would somehow feel... offended if you would... well, walk around without any clothes on. Sorry."

"Well, I guess it's okay for a day," Simba sighed. Then he grinned. "Besides, I could never miss the chance to see my old buddies again."

He nudged Sora, Donald and Goofy with his knuckles. "Good to see you again, guys! And good to see you again in the forms you're supposed to have."

"Excuse me, but what do you mean by that?" Riku asked.

Sora chuckled nervously. He had never told Kairi or Riku how he had turned into a lion cub during his stay at the Pride Lands.

To quickly change the subject, he coughed and asked Simba: "So... now you have a real family, eh? How old is your daughter now?"

Simba smiled proudly. "Converted into human years, she should be around 11 years old... and her name's Kiara."

"What a cute name," Kairi gushed.

"Excuse me, Simba, but would that be your daughter over there?" Donald suddenly asked and gestured into the crowd, at a young, antropomorphic lioness standing next to a human girl with black hair.

"Yeah, that's my girl," Simba nodded. "Why do you ask?"

Donald sighed. "Because I think she and Ariel's daughter are flirting with my nephews..."

* * *

Huey grumbled as he pushed around the small cart with the built-in freezer. "That's just like Uncle Scrooge..." he grumbled. "Using us as the salesmen for his new sea salt ice-cream. Well, yeah, he's making plenty of money from it, but what do we get? Nothing."

His gaze then wandered over to his two brothers Dewey and Louie... and to his annoyance, they didn't seem to work like he did. They had just pushed their ice cream carts to the side of the room and chatted with those two girls.

"That's not fair," the red-clothed duckling grumbled. "If I have to work, then they have to as well."

And angrily, he stomped towards them, intent on giving them a piece of his mind.

"Yep, it's true," Dewey was just saying. "The court magician is our uncle... and he has helped Keyblade Master Sora on his journeys. You could say that he was an essential helper on his quest."

Normally, the three brothers wouldn't praise their uncle like that, but to impress the ladies...

"Wow," Kiara gushed. "I heard it from my Dad... he always told me how your uncle defeated the Heartless in our homeworld with his magic. He must be really powerful."

"My Mom told me similar things about him," Melody nodded. "She said she always had to chuckle when his tentacles got entangled."

Puzzled, the boys and Kiara looked back at her. "Um, are you sure we're talking about the same Donald Duck here?" Kiara asked her new friend uncertainly. She seemed pretty nice for a human, sure, but now she feared that the black-haired girl had a screw loose or two.

"Oh, right, you couldn't know," Melody giggled. "You know, every time he and his friends have come to our home world, they turned into..."

"Hey, why are you slacking off like that?" Huey angrily shouted as he stood in front of his brothers. "Do I have to do the whole work around here by myself?"

"Hey, relax, bro," Louie tried calming him down. "We're just taking a little break."

"Okay, then the break's over. Really, you guys are always the same... Back at our shop in Traverse Town, we would have never made any money, if it weren't for my hard work."

"Oooh," Kiara exclaimed in a surprised voice. "You owned a shop?"

"Um... well, yeah. Now, as I said..."

"You must have been its manager then," Melody said in an impressed voice. "I suppose you were the guy that kept business running, right?"

"I, um... I mean, that's... Uh, I gotta go... still haveta sell some ice-cream... later, bros." And he quickly ran away.

Dewey and Louie looked at each other, then chuckled. "Awww... isn't that sweet? Poor Huey can't talk to a cute girl without turning all red."

"Well, but I suppose he's right," Louie sighed. "We have to return to our duties... See ya later, girls!"

And they took their carts and vanished back into the crowd.

"Awww, those boys were just too cute, weren't they?" Melody gushed.

"Yeah..." Kiara sighed. "Too bad they're no lions..."

* * *

Everyone stared in awe at the small Digimon that was sitting on a chair, munching on the cookies that Mimi's mother had baked for her daughter's birthday.

Heartmon smiled up at Mimi cutely. "Can I have some more cookies?"

Mimi gushed. Oh, that little guy was just sooo adorable. "Of course, sweetie. I'll get you some." And she took the empty bowl from the mouse-Digimon and rushed into the kitchen.

Izzy felt as if something had to be said. He stepped forward, cleared his throat and said: "So... Heartmon, right?"

The little guy looked up at him. "Yes?"

"Um... You know, we are kinda curious. Could you tell us where you're from?"

Heartmon seemed to think about that for a while. Then he smiled. "From Daddy's place."

"Okay," Izzy nodded. "But... could you be a little bit more... elaborate? Where does your 'Daddy' live?"

Heartmon pondered about the question like before. "He lives where I come from."

"I don't think that's gonna help much," Tai sighed. "Let me take care of this, Izzy."

"Okay," Izzy groaned. "Perhaps you have some more luck getting any sort of information from him..."

Tai squatted down in front of the tiny Digimon, so their faces were at the same level. "Hey there, Heartmon," he greeted him. "I'm Tai."

Heartmon smiled. "Hi Tai!"

"Say, that's a nice heart symbol on your front. I like it."

Heartmon smiled even more. "Thanks. Daddy gave it to me. He said it shall bring me good luck."

"Your Daddy seems to be a very nice man."

"Oh, yes. He always says he wants to make everyone happy, and therefore, he's always at work."

"Does he work too much? Or does he still have time to spend with you?"

"Oh, he has some time to spend with me, but I also have some friends: Yuffie-chan, Aerith-chan, Squall and Cloud..."

"Are they Digimon as well?" Veemon asked curiously.

Heartmon looked back at him with a puzzled look on his face. "What's a Dikki-mom?"

Tai sighed. "He meant, did your friend look like you? Or more like us?"

"Um, more like you, I'd say..." Heartmon told Tai, a little uncertain. "But not quite as big... More like that boy over there, but still a little smaller." He gestured at Cody.

"So his friends must still be little kids, younger than me perhaps," Cody pondered.

"I always used to have fun with my friends," Heartmon grinned. "We always played together and chased each other through the castle."

"Castle?" Davis wondered, but Tai made a gesture to tell him that he should be quiet.

"I can imagine you and your friends had much fun together, huh?" Tai asked.

Heartmon nodded. "Oh, yes! But one day, they all left..." Sadly, he looked down at the ground. "Daddy couldn't see me as often as he did before, but I knew he was busy, as he is an important man, and important men are always busy, he told me. Instead of him, I always had to talk with those meanies that worked for him..." He muttered the last sentence as if the memory was an unpleasant one.

"And what happened then?" Tai asked. "Why... why aren't you home, with your Daddy and friends?"

"Well, those six meanies always came to me and put those weird gadgets on me. The one with the white hair - I think his name was 'Zee-ha-noat' or sumthin' like that - always told me how I could help him. He said I should become a 'Heartless'... But I didn't want to. I liked the heart I have." He clutched the pink heart on his stomach lovingly. "Daddy gave it to me."

"Heartless..." Ken whispered. "Maybe those are the creatures that..."

At that point, Mimi was coming back from the kitchen, with a new bowl of cookies. She offered him some and he accepted them with a smile.

"So, what happened next?" Patamon wanted to know.

"Well, Daddy came back. He was acting really weird. He told me that we couldn't see each other for a while, and that I would go on a journey. I asked if my friends could come as well, but he shook his head. He just told me to be strong and to be a good boy. I felt like crying, because I had to say goodbye to Daddy... But I did as he told me and didn't cry. I was a good boy."

Just then, Cody realized something. He came closer and held up the key chain that was still dangling from his hand. "This pendant... do you know what that is?"

"Oh yes," Heartmon nodded. "Daddy said it's supposed to be a present for someone. Before he left, he said I would sleep for a while. And that someone would come and wake me up. And the Chain of Light is supposed to be a present for that person."

"Oh," Kari nodded, as she understood. "I touched the pendant... and you appeared. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I..." She clutched her D-3 Digivice. "I had the Crest of Light once..."

Heartmon smiled up at her. "If you woke me up, the Chain of Light is for you."

"But you said something about a Key... blade, wasn't it?" T.K. asked. "That's not the same thing, right?"

Heartmon shook his head. "No, it isn't. Daddy told me that, when I wake up, I should search for the 'Wielder of the Keyblade'. I really don't know what he meant by that, but he said that I would recognize the Keyblade when I see it."

"I see..." Tai scratched his head. "Did... did your Daddy say anything else?"

"He only said goodbye... and that he was sorry. Which was strange, because I never saw him do anything wrong. And after that... I fell asleep."

"And I suppose you slept until Kari woke you up, right?" Tai asked. Heartmon nodded. "Okay, that's what I wanted to know. Thanks, Heartmon."

The little guy nodded. "Anytime, Tai." And he bit into another cookie.

As Tai stood up, Sora grinned. "Hey, you sure are good with kids, Tai."

"Well, what can I say?" Tai shrugged. "I always had to watch Kari when we were younger... and I can tell you, when you have a younger sister, you have to learn one or two tricks..."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Kari asked her brother in a dangerous tone of voice. Both Sora and Gatomon chuckled.

"Well, what do we know?" Izzy pondered. "He says he comes from some sort of castle and that he doesn't even know what Digimon are. It also sounds as if his 'Daddy' is a human, not a Digimon. That would mean that this man is very likely his adoptive father instead of his biological one."

"We still don't know where he is from," Davis intervened. "I mean, there are Digidestined all over the world, right? Maybe his 'father' just had a kid that was his partner."

Ken shook his head. "I don't think the solution is as easy as that, Davis. Wherever he came from, the people there seem to know about those creatures we fought. If the term 'Heartless' isn't appropriate for those things, I don't know what else is."

"You're right," Izzy nodded. "The most logical explanation would be that he is neither from our world, nor from the Digital World, but from a world we had never heard of before."

"But he is a Digimon," Cody pointed out. "All Digimon we encountered so far came from the Digital World."

"There is no evidence that Digimon might exist in other worlds as well," Kari pondered. "And we know there are more than the two worlds we know out there." She still shuddered when remembering the short time she had spent in the Dark Ocean world.

"We have to meet again tomorrow," Tai decided. "If there are new enemies wandering around town, we have to be prepared."

"They are not wandering around..." Ken grumbled. "They are after me."

"Even worse," Davis shouted. "We can't let them stalk a fellow Digidestined like that. If they want a pice of one of my friends, they have to get through me first."

"You mean through me," Veemon grinned.

"I suppose it is kinda late," Mimi sighed. "And it was really a nice surprise party, everyone... even if the 'surprise' turned out to be this little guy here." She petted Heartmon's head, then realized that the mouse-Digimon has fallen asleep.

"I'm tired too..." Armadillomon yawned. "What do you say we go home for now and discuss things tomorrow, okay?"

"And what do we do with Heartmon?" Hawkmon asked. "He doesn't have a place to stay."

"Oh yes, he has," Mimi exclaimed. "I'm not gonna let that cutie wander off by himself, especially if he's in a world that's totally unknown to him."

She smiled down at the sleeping form of their newest friend. "Don't worry, Heartmon... I'll give you a nice place to sleep."

"Looks like Mimi's maternal instinct has risen," Matt whispered into his brother's ear. T.K. chuckled.


	4. The Keyhole

It was late in the night. Mimi was sleeping in her bedroom (which was still ready for her, all the time, even if she had been living mostly in the United States those days).

Heartmon was lying in an old dog's basket. This basket has once been bought by Mimi's parents as well, when she told them she would like to own a dog. That had been shortly before she went to the summer camp...

But then she found herself in the Digital World and met Palmon. Afterwards, she could never think of any more loveable companion than her Digimon partner, so she refused to own a dog. But her parents had still kept the basket.

It was a warm summer's night, so Mimi had left her window open. A pleasant breeze blew across the room and made the curtains wave through the air.

Suddenly, Heartmon's ears perked up. He blinked and then sleepily sat up in his little bed. After rubbing his eyes, he climbed out of the basket and hopped up on the window sill.

"Strange..." he murmured. "Something out there... is calling for me."

He already wanted to climb out of the window, but he hesitated and looked back at the sleeping form of Mimi. She had been so nice to him... wouldn't she be worried about him?

But then, he once again heard that calling and couldn't help himself: He jumped out of the window. Upon touching the ground in front of the house, he bounced upwards like a rubber ball and jumped across the street.

Bounding over streets, roofs and backyards, Heartmon followed the calling that echoed in the middle of his heart...

* * *

Purring in her sleep, Gatomon wiped her ears with her large paws and licked her lips. She was dreaming her favorite dream, about a large platter with tuna.

She just wanted to raise one of the delicious morsels to her mouth, when the tuna fish suddenly started beeping.

The loud ringing of Kari's D-Terminal woke Gatomon abruptly. "Whazza matter?" she mumbled. "Kari, your D-Terminal is cranky..."

Being woken up by Gatomon and the tedious beeping as well, Kari swung her legs out of bed and sleepily shuffled over to her desk, where the terminal was lying.

While she opened it, Tai sat up in his own bed and rubbed his eyes. "What's up, Kari? Who's sending you a message, that late in the night...?"

"Dunno..." Kari mumbled. "Oh, it's just Mimi... she sent me a mail... Heartmon is gone... WHAT?"

Tai yelped and nearly hit his head on the wall. His sister's shrill shriek was more than enough to wake up the dead. "What, what happened?"

"Mimi writes that Heartmon has climbed out of her window while she was sleeping. Now he's somewhere out there, in a city he doesn't know. Tai, she's afraid that something might happen to him... remember those monsters we fought yesterday."

"You have to call the others, quick!" Tai shouted. "Damn, I wish Agumon was here... I can't really help you against those monsters. But wait, I'm coming anyway." He jumped out of bed and just wanted to climb into his pants, but Kari stopped him.

"Don't panic, Tai, Mimi has already informed Davis and T.K.. Davis will inform Ken, and T.K. Yolei and Cody. We'll take care of that, big brother, don't you worry. Go back to bed, you need your beauty sleep."

"Well, okay, if you say so... HEY!"

She giggled as she put on her shoes. "Gotcha, Tai! Don't worry, we can handle this. It's just one little Digimon, and he can't have gone far. See you later... Gatomon, c'mon!"

* * *

"Kari!" T.K. waved. "Over here!"

"Hey guys!" Kari waved back to her friends. "Already find a clue?"

"Not until now," Veemon shook his head. "Yolei, Ken and Cody are searching in the business district. We should check..."

"Hey!" Patamon's voice suddenly came from above. "I saw him. He's heading for Odaiba!"

"Odaiba?" Davis gasped. "What's he doing out there?"

"We just have to find out," Kari said. "Davis, you know what to do."

"Right," the goggle-wearing boy nodded and pulled out his D-3 Digivice. "Digi-Armor Energize!"

"VEEMON ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TO... RAIDRAMON, STORM OF FRIENDSHIP!"

"Get on board," the sleek, four-legged reptile with the black armor said, and Davis, Kari, T.K. and Gatomon jumped on his back.

Running just like greased lightning, Raidramon carried the three Digidestined towards Odaiba, while Kari informed the others over her D-Terminal.

* * *

Shortly after Raidramon had arrived in Odaiba, his riders could see Halsemon flying across the night sky, and on his back, Yolei, Cody, Ken and Armadillomon were sitting. Stingmon was flying next to them.

"Already found him?" Yolei shouted.

"Not yet!" T.K. shouted back.

"Hey, take a look up ahead!" Halsemon suddenly shouted.

They could see a shining flash of pink light that was bounding over the buildings like a rubber ball.

"Maybe that's Heartmon," Davis assumed. "Raidramon, go faster!"

"I'm on it!" Raidramon growled and sped up. The other Digimon followed him.

* * *

Finally, they found Heartmon. He was standing in front of a big building in the middle of Odaiba. The pink heart on his stomach was shining like a bright star.

Kari looked at the building. "That tower..." she suddenly gasped. "I recognize that building. Here, we fought Myotismon for the first time."

"Yes..." Gatomon replied with mixed feelings. "It was here where I digivolved into Angewomon for the first time... and where Wizardmon died."

They had almost reached their new friend. Heartmon was just standing there, looking up at the tower with a strange expression on his face.

"Heartmon!" Cody shouted.

But just before they reached him, they appeared, out of nowhere... rising out of the ground, or appearing in strange clouds of darkness.

Halsemon landed, and the Digidestined jumped off their mounts.

"Those are the same monsters we fought yesterday," Stingmon said.

Ken grimaced and clutched his heart. "Yes... they're the same... they're still calling out for me."

"Strange," Yolei muttered and cleared her ear with an index finger. "I can't hear anything."

"Heartless..." Ken grumbled. "What do you want?"

"Be careful," Armadillomon shouted. "Here they come!"

Three voices shouted as one: "Digi-Armor Energize!"

"ARMADILLOMONMON ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TO... DIGMON, DRILL OF KNOWLEDGE!"

"PATAMON ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TO... PEGASUSMON, FLYING HOPE!"

"GATOMON ARMOR DIGIVOLVE TO... NEFERTIMON, ANGEL OF LIGHT!"

The Heartless didn't seem very impressed by the changed appearance of the Digimon. They attacked from all sides at once. Several of them wore a strange armor, but they didn't look much more intimidating than their shadowy brethren.

Using their attacks, the Digimon started to fight their enemies.

"Star Shower!"

"Rosetta Stone!"

"Thunder Blast!"

"Gold Rush!"

"Tempest Wing!"

"Spiking Strike!"

One after another, the Heartless fell under the strength of their opponents.

"We're gonna win!" Davis cheered.

Meanwhile, Kari was looking over to where Heartmon was standing. He was still staring up at the tower, not even noticing the battle nearby. Luckily, the Heartless seemed to ignore him, as they all seemed to focus solely on Ken.

"Heartmon?"

"Keyhole of the world," Heartmon murmured. "Are you there?"

And suddenly, a blinding light streamed out of the building's walls. On its side, a giant keyhole that looked like it was made of light suddenly appeared, and Heartmon was fixated on it.

"The Keyhole..." Heartmon muttered. "This is where the Master of the Keyblade will come to, right? Here I can meet him... Then, I can back home... to Daddy!"

'What's wrong with him?' Kari thought and clutched the key chain that she had been carrying in her pocket. 'Does that have to do anything with this?'

"Hey, what's that strange keyhole up there?" Yolei wondered.

"We can worry about that later," Davis shouted. "After we win!"

And then, the final Heartless fell under an attack of Raidramon: "Blue Thunder!"

But then, Kari gasped. "Look!" She gestured up to the top of the tower.

It was a dark silhouette, with wings as dark as the night.

For a horrible moment, Kari believed it was Myotismon who had yet again risen from the dead. But it was something else... A giant made of darkness, with tiny wings on his broad shoulders, gorilla-like arms and a heart-shaped hole in the middle of his body.

Heartmon apparently saw the giant shadow as well, as he yelped in surprise and jumped back. He clutched the heart symbol on his own belly. "Go away, Darkside!" he yelled. "This is my heart! Go get your own!"

"Quick, we have to help him," T.K. shouted, and everyone rushed to Heartmon's side, just as the giant Heartless called Darkside came jumping down from the tower. Only Ken yelped, as he once again felt a sharp pain in his own heart.

"Ken, what's wrong?" Stingmon asked in worry.

"The darkness..." Ken whispered. "The darkness that surrounds him... it is so strong! He IS darkness..."

Darkside looked down at the tiny children and the strange animals that were standing at their sides. His gaze was fixated on Heartmon... unlike his lower henchmen, he was powerful enough to concentrate on his real mission.

But then, he felt a powerful heart behind him. The heart of this world...

Like all Heartless, his first impulse was to turn around and to consume that heart. But he also knew his orders. For a while, instinct and common sense waged war inside of his head.

The instinct won.

Darkside twirled around like a tornado of shadows, and leapt up the building.

"NO!" Heartmon shouted. "Leave the heart of this world alone!"

While the Digidestined didn't understand what their little friend meant, they realized that it must be very bad if that monster would reach the shiny keyhole up there.

"GO! STOP HIM!" they told their Digimon partners.

The Digimon shot out their attacks, and one or two even hit Darkside, as he was clinging to the tower like King Kong to the Empire State Building... but that wouldn't stop him.

"Kari! The Key of Light!" Heartmon suddenly said.

Kari pulled the key chain out of her pocket. "Wh-what do we need that for now?"

"Open a pathway of light! That will banish him!"

"But how?"

"Trust me! You can do it!"

Kari believed the words of the small Digimon. She grasped the pendant and pointed the tiny key at Darkside.

Inside her heart, she felt that the powers of the light were resting inside of her... she just had to unlock them... using that key.

In a commanding voice, she shouted: "Pathway of Light! Open up!"

A thin beam of light got projected from the tiny key and created a shimmering oval of light in the air, right above the assembled children and Digimon.

Darkside got distracted from the keyhole and shielded his face as suddenly, the shining portal began sending out beams of light. He felt a strong suction that pulled him away from the tower. He tried grasping it with his broad hands, but they missed, and his dark body vanished inside the light.

Now that their enemy was defeated, Kari tried to close the pathway again, but found it impossible to do.

"What's happening?" she shouted. "Why doesn't it close?"

"Similar to a Corridor of Darkness, a Pathway of Light is created to travel between worlds," Heartmon said. "And once activated, you have to use that gate to travel, that's all I know."

"Kari, what did you do?" Yolei yelled. "Well, whatever it was, you can stop now, the monster is gone."

"Hold on everybody!" Digmon shouted as he crouched down and tried shielding Cody from the suction.

But it was too late. Heartmon was right... the pathway has been activated, and unlike a Corridor of Darkness, it would only close after it has been used by the person who has opened it.

Only seconds later, the suction became too strong for even the powerful Digimon to hold on to the ground, and everyone got sucked into the pathway, Heartmon as well.

In a final flash of light, the pathway collapsed and vanished, leaving no visible trace of the Digidestined or their Digimon...

At the side of the big building, the keyhole shimmered one last time, then it vanished as well.

* * *

"Ooooh... now what was that?" Kari groaned, as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Kari!" the enthusiastic voice of her Digimon partner shouted. "Finally, you're awake, sleepyhead."

Kari sat up in the bed she was lying in. It was a very big bed, with silky sheets and ornamented bedposts. It was standing in a big bedroom with marble walls that had a black-and-white, checkered pattern on them. Various paintings hung on the walls, and various pieces of furniture were standing around, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe and some chairs. Rays of light shone through a small window.

Gatomon stood next to the bed and smiled. "I'm glad you're awake. Seems that you knocked your head on something when we landed."

"Landed?" Kari tried visualizing what had happened before. They had fought those shadows... the giant one headed for that keyhole... and then...

"Oh, right," she said. "I opened a Gateway of Light..."

"Is that what it's called? I only know that after it got rid of the monster, it sucked us all in. Did you do that with that keychain of yours?"

The keychain! Kari's hands reached for her pockets, but then she realized that she was wearing something different from her usual clothes.

Sure, pink and white still were the prominent colors, but the pants and shirt she was wearing somehow were shaped as if she was dressed in some sort of... harness, even if it was a harness of cloth. Some belts and straps were holding the garments in place. She also couldn't help but notice the somehow big shoes and the numerous zippers on her new clothes.

"How... Who gave me new clothes?"

"No one," Gatomon said. "They changed shape as soon as we left that big portal of light. Heartmon said that it happened because your clothes 'adapted' to the new world we entered."

"A new world? Gatomon, where are we exactly? And what happened after we went through that gate?"

Gatomon was going to answer, but then, the door opened and someone entered.

It was a very small someone, with a stubby nose and big, round ears. He was wearing garments that somehow looked similar to her own, new ones. He also had a thin tail.

He also looked like a child-sized, humanoid mouse.

"Ah, you're finally awake I see," a somewhat squeaky voice exclaimed. "You sure gave me and my guests quite the surprise when you appeared in the middle of our festival. Your little friend with the heart on his tummy has explained to us where you came from."

"Heartmon?" Kari asked and swung her legs out of the bed. "Is he all right? Where are we, anyway? And who are you?"

The bipedal mouse waved his arms to calm her down. "Now, now. Everything's fine. He is in another room, where he's talking to some of my guests. And to answer your other questions: You are in the guest quarters of Castle Disney. And I am the king of this castle, King Mickey Mouse."

* * *

"Aw, c'mon, Davis, it's not that bad."

"What do you know? You never changed out of the blue like this before. I mean, sure you did, but that's something else. I mean, look at me: I'm standing on four, furry paws. I have a TAIL!"

Veemon snickered while looking at the animal his partner had become. Sure, he had kept his hairstyle and goggles, but...

"Will you feel better if I tell you that those spots suit you?"

"That's not funny, Veemon," the leopard cub growled.

He groaned. "This is a mess. We don't know where we are, the others are nowhere to be seen, I'm walking around on four legs and I'm hungry as well."

"Hey, maybe the others are somewhere close by. We won't accomplish anything by just sitting here, you know?"

"I guess you're right," Davis sighed and rose to his four legs. He then looked around. "You know, this scenery really doesn't make me feel comfortable around here."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Veemon nodded.

It was a gloomy landscape, filled with rocks and gnarled trees that looked like they would never grow any leaves. Marshes and mires were visible through the misty fog that was covering the land like a shroud.

Davis shuddered. "I wouldn't want to know just what kind of creatures live in a land like this," he muttered.

"Maybe the scary, furry kind of beasts, that jump out of the mist to scare you out of your wits," Veemon said with a chuckle.

"S-stop it, Veemon."

"Yeah, and once they have cornered you, they will pounce on you and use their shiny teeth to..."

"GRRRRAAAARRRRR!" A dark shadow came jumping out of nowhere and landed on a big boulder in front of them.

"WHAAAAAAH!" Davis and Veemon yelped. "A MONSTER!"

But it was no monster that was crouching on the boulder, with leery eyes, a furry tuft of hair on his head and a waving tail behind him.

It was a lion cub, with dark brown fur.

Davis let out a sigh of relief. "You really gave me a scare there, little guy. I almost believed you were..."

"What are you doing here?" the lion asked in a threatening tone of voice. "Since when do leopards hunt within the borders of the Outlands?"

That made Davis gulp down the words he was going to say. He stared into the lion's yellow eyes and said: "You can talk..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" the lion asked him in an alienated voice. "Do they tell you in the Pride Lands that we Outlanders are savage beasts that can't even talk? Yeah, that's just like them..."

Davis shook his furry head. "Look... I'm sorry I said that, okay? But can you tell us where we are? We are kinda lost..."

"Yes," Veemon nodded. "We are looking for our friends."

The lion seemed to have noticed the blue little dragon only just by now. "What are you supposed to be?" he snorted. "Some lizard mixed with a meerkat?"

He chuckled and jumped down from the boulder. "You two really must be some dim-witted rookies if you don't even know about the Outlands."

"Well, I am a Rookie, but..."

"Veemon, let me take care of this, okay?" Davis said. "Look, um... what's your name again?"

"Call me Kovu," the lion replied in his gruff voice.

"Okay, Kovu, I am Davis and that's Veemon. Now, can you show us the way out of here or not?"

"Maaaaybe I could," Kovu grinned and looked at his forepaws with a sneer. "But... what's in it for me?"

Davis sighed. He really didn't like that lion very much...

* * *

"Just ssstare into my eyes and everything will turn out just fine," the giant snake hissed while its head circled around Yolei.

Yolei gulped. "No, thanks. I don't know how I can hear you talk, and I really don't wanna know. I'm just searching for a way out of here..."

"Oh, there isss one."

"Oh, really now?"

The enormous python nodded while grinning and looked at her with those strange eyes. "Right into my mouth and through my stomach, my dear."

Yolei gulped as she tried freeing herself from the many coils of the snake's body. "That doesn't sound too pleasurable, thank you. I just wanna get off this tree..."

"Would old Kaa ever lie to you," the snake almost purred in its soothing voice. "Trust in me, just in me, shut your eyes and trust in me. You can sleep safe and sound, knowing I'm around."

Yolei tried very hard to look away from the swirling pupils of the python, but found herself unable to do so. And somehow, she suddenly felt very tired...

"Slip into silent slumber, sail on a silver mist," Kaa continued his rhythmic singing. "Slowly and surely your senses will cease to resist."

Yolei's eyes closed themselves, as she fell into a deep slumber, caused by Kaa's hypnotic voice and dancing. Slowly, the curls of the snake wrapped themselves around her until only her head was visible.

"Trust in me, just in me, close your eyes and trust in me."

Having ascertained that his victim was asleep, Kaa chuckled to himself. That was some easy prey. It would be very tasty, too. It had been such a long time since he had enjoyed the taste of a fresh human...


	5. Scattered Digidestined

Kaa grinned widely. That girl was a nice alternative to that man-cub Mowgli who kept escaping his clutches (thanks to that brute Bagheera). But there was no one around here to save this man-cub...

He opened his mouth widely and prepared to introduce the girl to his stomach...

"Feather Strike!"

The big python yelped in pain, as a strange, twirling projectile came flying out of nowhere and smacked him in the head. Out of nowhere, a strange bird came swooping down and buried the claws of his feet into the coils of the snake.

"YEOWCH!" Kaa howled in pain. "That hurts!" His prey came loose, and the bird quickly used that opportunity to grab the girl's shoulders and pull her to safety.

Hawkmon put his human partner down to the ground. "Yolei, are you okay? Wake up, please!"

"What kind of vulture are you?" Kaa whined. "Go after carrion, like every member of your species."

"I am hardly a vulture," Hawkmon proclaimed proudly. "I am a Digimon. Now go and search something else to eat, or you'll be sorry."

Kaa figured he should be able to swallow this insolent bird whole, but something told him that this wasn't some ordinary bird... and whatever he had hit him with, it hurt. So he wisely decided to leave the strange duo alone and slithered back into the rooftops, out of Hawkmon's sight.

Hawkmon sighed in relief.

Just then, Yolei's eyes opened up and she groaned.

"Yolei," Hawkmon shouted in joy. "How do you feel?"

"Terrible..." the purple-haired girl moaned. She looked around. "Say, what happened to that overgrown spaghetti?"

Hawkmon chuckled. "He's gone, I convinced him that it wouldn't be healthy for him to eat you."

Yolei frowned. "If I weren't still somewhat sleepy, I would whack you good," she mumbled. Groggily, she stood up and looked down at herself. "Oh great," she sighed. "I am used to the fact that my clothes change whenever I enter the Digital World, but this is too much."

Hawkmon coughed as he took a closer look at the 'makeshift dress' Yolei was wearing at the moment. It looked like it was made out of some animal's skin... and besides her glasses, Yolei wore nothing else.

He blushed. "Um, I think it suits you, Yolei..."

"When I want to hear your opinion, I'll ask for it," the irritated girl snapped back. "Now let's go find the others."

"Y-yes, of course," Hawkmon said and hurried after his partner.

"What can be worse?" Yolei whined. "Being stuck in the middle of the jungle, almost being eaten by a giant snake and not even wearing proper clothes... Kari, wherever you are, if you sent me here deliberately, I'll never forgive you for this."

* * *

Ken and Wormmon were walking along a dark street. Tall buildings towered over their heads, and a pale moon was shining down through the clouds.

"I don't like this, Wormmon," Ken muttered. "This city... it looks dark in the night."

Wormmon scratched his head while he scurried next to his human friend. "But Ken, doesn't everything look dark in the night?"

Ken sighed. "Yes, but I mean... never mind. Although I wonder where we are. This is definitely not Tokyo." He gestured at the clock tower that rose behind another building. "See? There's no such tower anywhere in Tokyo. So where did that portal of light take us?"

"I wonder if the others are here, too," Wormmon pondered.

All of a sudden, the silence of the night turned into a yowling crescendo of sirens, gunshots and squeaking tires. Ken and Wormmon gasped in surprise when they saw numerous police cars driving around the corner, with flashing blue lights and deafening sirens. They stopped at the next crossway, and to Ken's surprise, the policemen that came jumping out of the vehicles were all uniform-clad, humanoid animals.

"What the heck?" he whispered and hid behind a big garbage container. Wormmon quickly came to his side.

"All right, give it up!" one of the policemen, a bipedal bulldog, just barked. "You're completely surrounded, so you better surrender yourselves."

"Think AGAIN!" a screechy voice came out of the side street, which was out of Ken and Wormmon's sight. But suddenly, two bright flashes of electricity came shooting out of that street and hit two of the police officers in the chest. The massive shocks threw them backwards and knocked them out.

"What's going on, Ken?" Wormmon whispered.

"I don't know," Ken replied. "But still, if anyone out there is frying police officers with lightning, we shouldn't let him get away with this."

"That's what I've been thinking, too," Wormmon nodded. "I'm ready if you are, Ken."

The remaining police officer nervously backed off while raising his revolver. "S-stay back, Megavolt, or else..."

"What are you gonna do?" the insane dog/rat/weasel thing cackled while charging up another bolt of electricity within his gloves. "You gonna shoot me with a gun that's out of ammo?"

"N-no, it's not," the policemen stuttered. "Back off, or I'll shoot!"

"Don't be silly, Sparky," another voice exclaimed. "He clearly has another bullet left, I counted."

"You think I'm stupid or something?" Megavolt yelled at his partner-in-crime. "I assure you, he's out of ammo. AND DON'T CALL ME SPARKY!"

"He is NOT! He has one bullet left. Sheesh, do you think I can't count? What do you say, Mr. Banana Brain?"

And the antropomorphic duck-clown called Quackerjack raised his little banana puppet to his face and imitated a squeaky little voice: "Oh, of course you're right! There's exactly one bullet left!"

"That's not fair," Megavolt whined. "Mr. Banana Brain always is on your side."

The policeman tried to use the distraction of the two supervillains, raised his gun (he actually had one bullet left) and took aim.

But before he could fire, SOMETHING bit down on his arm. Hard.

The cop stared at the big set of teeth that was clamped around his arm and growled like a rabid dog.

Quackerjack giggled insanely. "Well done, Rocky! Good boy!"

"SPIKING STRIKE!"

The policeman yelped in surprise, when out of nowhere, a tall green shape came flying and hit the false teeth with a glowing spike that came out of his hand.

Stingmon pulled back his hand, the set of teeth still impaled on his sting. It snapped around wildly, but couldn't bite anything but empty air.

Stingmon just shrugged and ripped the dangerous toy in two halves. "I advise you go to safety," he told the policeman. "I'll take care of those two."

"O-of course, sir," the bulldog mumbled. "A-are you a hero?"

"Well, you could call me that... but we should save our talk for later, after I'm finished with those two. They are criminals, right?"

"Y-yes, they are," the police officer nodded. "B-be careful, they can be very dangerous." And he hurried back to his car to call for reinforcements, just in case the strange hero wouldn't be able to deal with the deadly duo.

Quackerjack stared at the remains of his robot set of teeth called Rocky. "MY BABY!" he yelled. "What have you done?"

He then grinned widely and pulled out a gun that looked like a toy. "I'll make you pay for this. Heheheheheh... Time to PLAY!"

"Lemme at him, Quacky," Megavolt shouted in excitement. "I'll give him a good SHOCK!"

Suddenly, the confrontation was disturbed by a sudden puff of smoke on the roof of the nearest building.

"I AM THE TERROR THAT FLAPS IN THE NIGHT..." a booming voice shouted.

"Oh just great..." Megavolt whined. "It's him..."

"I AM THE LIGHT BULB THAT KEEPS ON BURNING THROUGH..."

Ken stared out of his hiding place. "Who IS that?"

And as the smoke cleared, a humanoid duck clad in some sort of purple cape, complete with a mask and a hat with a broad flap, became visible.

"I AM DARKWIIIIIING..."

Ken, Stingmon, Quackerjack, Megavolt and the police officer all winced when the super hero stumbled over an empty soda can lying on top of the roof, and fell down head-first into a full trash can that was standing in front of the building.

"...Duck!" his muffled voice came out of the trash.

* * *

Patamon looked around the gloomy room in which he and T.K. had appeared. "Where are we, T.K.?"

"I don't know..." the blonde boy admitted while looking at the big pile of junk that was lying in one corner. "But it clearly looks like no one has lived here for a long time, or else he would have cleaned this room up by now."

He shrugged. "Come on, I think that door over there leads to a balcony... Perhaps we can see where we are."

Patamon followed his partner outside.

The 'balcony' was framed by an impressive balustrade that looked like it was made of marble. It's edges were decorated with the statues of some ugly, winged creatures.

"Gargoyles..." T.K. muttered.

"What did you say?" Patamon asked while crouching on one of the statues.

"Those stone figures... they're called 'Gargoyles'," T.K. explained. "They quite often decorate old buildings like castles and churches."

"Oh, I see," Patamon nodded. Then, the two of them took a look at the city that was spread in front of their eyes.

The first thing T.K. realized was that it was a BIG city. Big enough to be a metropolis, to be exact. But for some reason, he could see no trace of any modern buildings. No skyscrapers, no modern-looking flat buildings, no office buildings made of glass and steel...

He shook his head. "Makes you believe that this is a town in medieval times..." he murmured. "But something about this city... is familiar..."

Had T.K. seen the building in which he and Patamon were now standing, from the outside, he would not only have instantly recognized the city, but also the building itself.

"You mean this town looks familiar to you?" Patamon asked.

T.K. nodded. "Yeah, can't put my finger on it, but somehow I know I have seen some of those streets and buildings before... I believe I've been standing on a high point as well, kinda like now. And I think my grandfather was with me that day..."

Patamon tapped his forehoof against his head. "Strange, now that you mention it, it looks familiar to me as well. But, the only big cities I've seen in your world were Tokyo and..."

The realization hit T.K. like a sledgehammer. "Paris..." he whispered. "After we saved Catherine from the Mamemon... she invited us to a tour of..." He gasped and turned around, looking up the monumental, artistically ornated twin towers of the cathedral they were standing in.

"Notre Dame..."

"I think you're right," Patamon said in awe. "But, if this is the same church we have been visiting during our stay in Paris, why does the rest of the city look like we're in the middle ages?"

"This gate of light..." T.K. muttered. "Perhaps it didn't only take us to a different place, but maybe even into a different TIME?"

Patamon sighed and let his body sink down on one of the stony Gargoyle figures that were decorating the balustrade. "If that is true, I really hope that we have a chance to find the others and get back ho... huh?" He yelped in surprise, when suddenly, the Gargoyle underneath his furry behind... sprang to life!

"HEY!" the stone figure yelled. "What's the big idea, just sitting down on my head like that? It's bad enough that those pigeons do it all day long, and now some winged pig thinks he can push me around? No sire, not me!"

"It... it can move... and talk?" T.K. gasped in surprise and stumbled backwards.

"Of course we can," a gentle, female voice exclaimed from behind him. "If only the humans would listen more closely..."

Jumping in surprise, T.K. turned around and saw how another one of the stone figures turning around her body (which seemed to end just below her navel) and smiling at him. In spite of her small wings and the tiny horns protruding from her forehead, she had the looks of a small, elderly lady.

"It is true! What a tragedy, we, the loyal guardians of fair Notre Dame, always doing our jobs, but always being ignored by the crowds..."

A third Gargoyle had come to life, a little further to T.K.'s right. He was slightly taller than the other two and had also the biggest wings.

"I'm terribly sorry..." Patamon said bashfully while fluttering down to the ground. "We didn't know you were alive... are you Digimon?"

"Gigi-what?" the first one asked in his brash voice. It was the same one on whose head Patamon had landed previously. He was much more obese than his two 'colleagues' and had a pig's snout in addition to his two stubby horns. "What's that supposed to be?"

"Um, never mind that," T.K. quickly said. His first shock gone, he got used to the fact that those three Gargoyles were talking with him. He had seen stranger things back in the Digital World. Although, he wondered if back in his time, the Gargoyles of Notre Dame would be alive as well.

The fat Gargoyle hopped closer to Patamon and threw him an icy glare. "Where are you two pipsqueaks coming from, anyway?" he asked. "I've never seen someone like you before, buddy!" And his stone finger poked Patamon hardly in the ribs.

"Look, we're just looking for our friends," T.K. tried to explain. "Humans that are about my age, with similar creatures like him... have you seen them?"

"You are the first one, dearie," the female Gargoyle said. "And I must say, I am really curious about how you got here in the first place... the Archdeacon usually locks all doors leading to the bell tower tightly."

"Listen, um... say, what's your name? You have names, do you?"

"We sure have," the tall one smiled and made an elegant gesture. "You can call myself Victor, and that chubby little fella over there is Hugo."

'Victor, Hugo...' T.K. thought. 'Figures...'

"Call me Laverne, dear," the elderly female said. "And what are you called?"

"I'm T.K. and this is Patamon. And I must say I don't really know how we got here. All I know is that Kari raised that key of hers and..."

"Is that your girlfriend?" Hugo chuckled.

"Hugo, let him finish!" Laverne scolded her friend.

"Well, Kari raised this strange key, and all of a sudden, this bright light appeared and engulfed us all... And the next thing we know, we're here!"

"Oh no!" Victor gasped. "Black Magic!"

"Uh... I don't really think that it was magic," T.K. said. "But even if it was, I seriously doubt it would be 'Black' magic. And what's so bad about magic anyway?"

"Nothing, if we would have to say anything about it," Laverne sighed. "But you better make sure that the Judge Claude Frollo doesn't learn about how you get here, my boy."

"Why not?" Somehow, T.K. got a bad feeling about this.

"Because," Laverne said in a serious tone of voice. "He'd want to see you burnt at the stake!"

T.K. gulped and exchanged a very worried look with his winged friend.

Suddenly the door of the gloomy room the twosome had appeared in squeaked, and a bulky shadow became visible in the light that was streaming into the chamber.

T.K. let out a startled gasp as he saw the deformed face of the hunchbacked man that approached him. Could that be... the infamous...

"Quasimodo..." he whispered, although it was quiet enough that no one heard it.

"Who are you?" the bell ringer of Notre Dame asked while looking at the young boy intently. "How did you get in here?"

* * *

"Cody! Cody, where are you?"

"Up here, Armadillomon! Quick, help me!"

Armadillomon looked up at the trap in which Cody was entangled. It was a simple rope that was being bound to the branch of the massive tree he was standing next to. It was a little high above the ground, so Armadillomon really didn't know how to save his little friend.

Then he got an idea. He rolled his body up into a ball and hurled himself upwards, to where the branch was sticking out of the tree, similarly to when he used his 'Diamond Shell' attack.

"Don't worry, Cody, I'll get you down in no time at all." He uncurled, raised his forelegs, extended his claws...

And before he cut through the rope, his left paw grabbed the rope tightly, so his friend wouldn't fall down afterwards. A small cut later, Cody was dangling from his friend's paw.

Several moments after that, Cody was standing safely on the ground.

"Whew, what a relief," the youngest Digidestined sighed. "Thanks for getting me out of there, Armadillomon..."

Now, that his partner was standing back on the ground, Armadillomon realized that something was not quite right with the small boy. "Cody... did you have those big ears for a long time now?"

"Huh? Big ears? What are you talking..." Cody frowned, then felt the side of his head with his hands.

And he realized that Armadillomon was right: His ears were more than twice their original size, and that was not all: His head... felt furry.

And when he pulled down his hands to look at them, he saw that they were not really hands... they were paws.

"What the... Armadillomon, what happened to me?"

"Don't ask me, I'm as clueless as you are!"

Something that was pointy and twitching came into Cody's field of view. He quickly realized that this was his muzzle, tipped with whiskers.

And the long thing waving behind him, with a furry tuft of hair at the end, could be nothing else than his new tail.

"Cody, I hate to say it, but you look like a mouse."

"A kangaroo mouse, I'd say," Cody nodded. "Australian rodent... But wait a minute, if I'm a mouse, then why do I still wear my clothes? And normally, a kangaroo mouse would be much smaller than this..."

Armadillomon looked around. He looked at the strange, giant 'leaves' that were growing from the ground and realized they were actually blades of grass. He inspected the rope more closely and saw that it was only a piece of string. Finally, he glanced up at the enormous tree that was much, much bigger than the biggest redwood tree he heard about. And the branch Cody had been dangling from was not a branch... it was a twisted root.

"I'd say we are the correct size, Cody..." the yellow Rookie chuckled nervously.

"Hey, you! Little boy! Did you destroy that trap?" a voice with a strong Australian accent suddenly yelled.

Cody looked around, but saw no one. "Um, yes, but actually, my friend did it... after he rescued me."

"Okay, good to hear, but you should get out of there right away. Because old McLeach never sets small traps like this without connecting them to a bigger trap..."

"Huh?" Armadillomon asked. "What do you mean?"

"Come here, behind the tuft of grass, and I'll show you," the voice shouted.

Well, if that guy said there was an additional trap here, Cody figured it would be best to listen to him... whoever he was.

They walked around the high blades of grass... and stared when they saw the owner of the voice.

It was another kangaroo mouse, wearing a jacket and a hat.

"Good to see you're in one piece, little boy," the adult mouse said. He looked back to where Cody had been trapped earlier and shouted: "OKAY, SPARKY! LET IT FLY!"

Cody looked over to where he had been trapped previously and saw some fly or something like that buzzing around the rest of the thread that was still tied around the root.

Sparky (which was likely the name of that insect) seemed to concentrate, then he pulled at the remaining string with all the might a little fly could bring up.

With a loud 'WHOOSH' (which was almost deafening for Cody, because of his tiny state and his new, sensitive ears), a net that had been hidden on the leaf-covered ground shot up into the air, where it dangled down from a real tree branch (more or less several thousand kilometers above their heads, so it seemed to Cody).

"Now THAT'S a trap, eh, kiddo?" the stranger grinned smugly. "You were lucky that your friend cut the string instead of pulling on it. You know, that's old McLeach's trick: Capturing small animals like us to lure in the big ones. And those are the animals he can make really BIG money with."

Still a little shaken, Cody decided to concentrate on different matters for now. His honor somehow demaded that he had to thank the adult kangaroo mouse for what he did. Cody somehow felt that he might owe him his life.

So he turned around to face the stranger and gave him a short bow. "My name is Cody Hida and this is my friend and partner Armadillomon. I thank you for your help."

"Aw, it's no big deal, kiddo! I'm always ready to help. Especially if it's a young boy like you. The name's Jake, and I'll be darned if I would've left you two down under that tree." He smirked.


	6. A gathering at Never Was Castle

The door to the guest room opened and a young, handsome goose wearing the uniform of a castle guard entered.

"Your Majesty," he saluted. "Most of the guests have left by now. They all understand that this interruption of the festivities is hardly your fault and they want to thank you for the generous welcome and the splendid festival. Everyone that has decided to stay for the night has been directed to the guest rooms in the east wing."

"Thank you, Gladstone," the king nodded. "Are the guests from Radiant Garden still there?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Gladstone nodded. "They expressed their desire to join the meeting."

"Very well. Tell them to come to the next room, please."

The goose saluted again. "As you wish, sir!" And he turned around and left.

Kari shook her head. That was quite some strange world, where mice and geese wore human clothes and acted just like humans would... Then again, she had seen many Digimon that looked similarly to those fellows.

"I apologize for the rush, but would you please join me and my friends for a little talk?" Mickey asked her. "I suppose you might have many questions... as we have too. Perhaps, if we sit together and talk, we might find out more about this whole situation."

"That wouldn't be such a bad idea, Kari," Gatomon spoke up. "We don't know where we are, we need help in finding the others, and perhaps someone around here even knows more about the origins of Heartmon and your little chain. I mean, I have the feeling that His Majesty is trustful. Or..." She tilted her head in concern. "Are you feeling too tired?"

"No, that's not it," Kari quickly said. "It's just that... well, all of this has been a little bit overwhelming."

"We can always adjourn the meeting to tomorrow, if you prefer," the king offered.

"No, that's fine, Your Majesty," Kari replied. "I'm pretty curious about everything as well, so I'm all for this meeting."

"Then it's decided," the bipedal mouse nodded. "Come, they're all waiting for us in the next room... your little friend Heartmon as well."

They left the chamber and entered a very long hallway with a marble floor and many doors that looked all the same. Through high windows, bright rays of sunlight shone inside the corridor.

Mickey led Kari and Gatomon to the next door, knocked and entered.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, everyone! May I all introduce you to... Kari and her partner, Gatomon."

Kari looked around the room. She saw three other anthropomorphic animals, similar to the king: A female mouse wearing a crown (she assumed that this would be the queen), a duck wearing blue clothes with a cap, and a dog wearing a black vest over a green shirt, with yellow pants.

The other three occupants of the room were humans... teenagers that looked to be around her age: A boy with spiky, brown hair, a nice-looking girl with red hair and a mature-looking boy with white hair. He seemed to have a serious look on his face all the time.

She also noticed how not only the king's outfit was similar to her own, but also that of the brown-haired boy, and, to a lesser extent, also the clothes of the other two teenagers.

Heartmon was sitting on the table in-between the others. He smiled happily when he saw Kari and waved.

"Ka... ri?" the brown-haired boy just asked. His gaze wandered around Kari and the other girl in confusion.

The red-haired girl looked at Kari with a concerned expression. "She... she is not something like a Nobody, is she?"

"No, I don't think so," the king explained. "She told me that she and her friends came from a different world, so I think it's just a coincidence that you look so similar, Kairi."

'Kairi?' Kari wondered. Odd, how that name sounded so similar to her own. Also, the red-haired girl looked kinda like her. True, she had longer hair, and it was red instead of brown. Also, her eyes were blue, unlike her brown ones. But still... Regarding their faces, they could very well pass off as sisters.

"Kari, I'd like you to meet my friends. First, this is my wife, the beautiful queen of this castle: Queen Minnie."

"Ah, you old charmer," the queen said bashfully.

"I only tell the truth," Mickey grinned, then he coughed and continued. "Next, we have my two closest confidants: Royal Court Magician, Donald Duck, and the captain of the guard, Goofy."

"Hello," the duck said in a quackish voice.

"Very nice to meet you," Goofy added in a voice that fitted his name.

"And last but not least we have our guests from the Destiny Islands: Sora, Riku and Kairi." He gestured at the three teenagers while calling out their name.

"Hey there," Sora grinned and raised a hand in greeting. Riku just nodded with the hint of a smile.

Now Kairi, on the other hand... The red-headed girl seemed to be taken aback slightly, as her nervous stance suggested. However, she seemed to ignore that uneasiness for now and smiled nervously as she extended her hand. "Kari... nice to meet you! I'm Kairi... well, you know that already. Umm, I mean... wanna be friends?"

Something about her behavior was odd. Well, Kari guessed it was because the two of them looked so much alike, but still... Kairi acted as if something similar had happened to her before.

Ignoring those thoughts for now, Kari accepted the handshake and nodded. "Sure, I'd like that, Kairi."

* * *

Some time later, they were all sitting on chairs around the table and talked about the events. Heartmon was sitting on an armchair in one corner of the room and ate out of a bowl of fruit the queen had offered him.

"So... I just appeared in a flash of light inside your audience chamber?" Kari asked. "In the middle of your festival?"

"That's right," Goofy nodded. "We could kinda tell that it had to be a passageway to another world... We have travelled between worlds quite often by now, you know?"

"Well, I can't say the same thing for me," Kari admitted. "Although I have visited the Digital World regularly."

"This... 'Digital World'..." the king said in a thoughtful tone of voice. "Tell me more about it."

"Well, it is the place where I was born," Gatomon explained. "Almost everyone living there is a Digimon... that's short for 'Digital Monster'."

"A friend of ours has once discovered that the Digimon and their world are made of digital data," Kari said. "Although they are very much alive like you and me."

"I figured as much," Riku smirked. "From what we've seen of Gatomon by now, you wouldn't want to believe that she's just some digital program."

"It's still amazing," Queen Minnie spoke up. "A living being, made of data, and still living outside of a computer system?"

"Well, we have been turned into data once," Sora said, gesturing towards Donald and Goofy. "And inside of that computer, we found a whole world made of data... and we also met a computer program named Tron. He's one of our best friends." He scratched his head. "Um, of course I don't know much about this stuff, but... I'd say that Tron is as much alive as we all are."

"I hate to say it, but I think Sora's right this time," Riku grinned.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Sora snapped.

"You seem to be in thought, Your Majesty," Gatomon addressed the king. "Is there something else we should know?"

"I don't know..." Mickey murmured. "I believe I've heard about something similar before... and I don't mean Tron and his world." He tapped his index finger against his black nose.

Goofy did the same. Then he tilted his head. "Gawrsh," he exclaimed. "Didn't Ansem the Wise try to convert the artificial Kingdom Hearts the Organization created, into data?"

Everyone else in the room gasped in surprise and realization, while Kari and Gatomon could only blink in confusion. Kingdom Hearts? Ansem the Wise? Which Organization were they talking about?

"That's right!" Mickey shouted. "How could I have forgotten? Ansem the Wise and his apprentices have tried to create artificial hearts for a long time, remember? Before Xehanort had betrayed him and turned into a Heartless! From what he told me on one of my visits, those hearts would be made of digital data."

"But... but I thought..." Kairi stuttered. "I thought they weren't successful, and the only things that have been created by Xehanort were artificial Heartless."

"That's mostly correct," Mickey nodded. "But... I know I've seen this little fella's face before," he said and gestured over to where Heartmon was munching on an apple. "And I'm sure it was during my stay at Radiant Garden."

Everyone needed a few moments to realize what that meant.

"You... do you mean that Heartmon is, in fact...?" Riku mumbled.

Mickey nodded sharply. "Yes, I'm sure of it. Heartmon... is nothing else than an artificial heart, created by Ansem the Wise... The only successfully created heart!"

* * *

BlackGatomon stepped up to her dark ally.

"It looks like they're all spread over different worlds."

The cloaked figure turned around its head. "But their partners are still with them, are they?"

"Of course they are." The feline's face took on a sarcastic sneer. "I mean, it's 'destiny' we are dealing with, after all."

The black-robed figure huffed. "Destiny... fate... I don't believe in those things..."

"Oh, but you DID manage to keep your mind, even if you turned into a Heartless, isn't that right?"

"True, but I don't really believe that this happened because of some stupid prophecy... it was just a coincidence, that's all."

The black cat Digimon shrugged. "Well, whatever... But you know that they will soon enough stumble over the remaining pieces, do you?"

"That's because digital data made of the same aspect attracts others of its kind... You don't wanna tell me that it happens because of destiny, right?"

"You said that," BlackGatomon shot back. "Now, shall I inform our allies, or not?"

"You do that. Although I hope that they are as competent as you promised... I saw how their little 'association' fared against the Keyblade Master."

"Maleficent might have made the wrong decision in putting too much trust in all those bumbling idiots... from of all them, I could only see Jafar as being half competent, and maybe Hades as well. But now, everything has changed... SHE is part of the gang now."

"Well, if you say so," the cloaked individual sighed. "But hurry up. I WANT those keychains. If they are as powerful as you said, they just might give me back what was once rightfully mine."

The figure gave off an evil chuckle.

"And then I can give Sora and his friends my 'thanks'... for destroying my Nobody half."

* * *

Situated next to the abyss of nothingness, a white castle rose up into the perpetual dark sky of the World That Never Was.

It has become quiet in the halls of Castle Never Was ever since the defeat of the Organization... and still, the ruined remains of their artificial 'Kingdom Hearts' were visible in the sky.

Only few Nobodies remained, and those Heartless that were still in this world were under the control of the new mistress of the castle.

A portly individual, who was wearing a black mask over his eyes and a green cap on his head, looked up at the remains of Kingdom Hearts...

"I still don't get it, Bigtime..." he mumbled. "Is that thing up there made of hearts or not?"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" his shorter companion grumbled. "It was created by the hearts that the Heartless who were defeated by the Keyblade have left behind."

"Yes, I already got that part... But what about now? If it looks like that, is it STILL made of hearts?"

"Well... yeah... maybe... Oh, stop asking such stupid questions, Burger! Maleficent doesn't pay us for that, she pays us for guarding her new domicile."

"I didn't realize we were being paid..." Burger Beagle muttered to himself, as he looked one final time up into the sky. "Still, I think it kinda looks like some big cherry pie..."

* * *

Maleficent, evil witch and former mistress of Hollow Bastion, put her hand on her forehead and groaned.

"You really couldn't find guards for our new castle that were just a little bit more competent then those Beagle Boys?" she asked. "You just had to choose them?"

"Well, what should I say," her deputy Pete grumbled. "You said you wanted specialists, so I gave you specialists."

"And exactly which one of them is a specialist?" she snapped.

Pete looked a bit intimidated under her glare. "Well... I just thought, after all those times they tried robbing old McDuck's Money Bin, I figured they might know one or two things about guarding places like that."

"Never mind..." Maleficent sighed. "After all, foolish guards are better than no guards... And it's not like the allies I managed to gather would be as incompetent as them." She smiled and turned around. "Am I not right, Mirage?"

A sleek woman, dressed in ornate, red robes, entered the room. Her skin was dark in color, but her head was that of a cat.

"I hope you don't want to imply anything, dear Maleficent," she purred in a voice that always managed to give Pete the creeps. "After all, it was me who found out about the 'Digital Heart' project of Ansem the Wise."

"I know I can count on you, old friend," Maleficent replied. "By the way, did your little 'spawn' manage to gain the trust of our Heartless ally?"

"She knows her place," Mirage replied. "BlackGatomon would never be able to betray me. After all, she is my 'digital counterpart' and therefore the ideal agent in this mission."

"But still..." Pete intervened. "Don't we need something from Ansem's study? I thought the little trinkets were useless without that gadget, you know what I mean."

"Of course," Mirage nodded. "I already wanted to go there myself, as most of their strong warriors are at Castle Disney right now. But Mim asked me to let her do it instead."

"You... think it's wise to let that witch do your job?" Maleficent asked doubtfully. "I mean, she is not the most mentally stable of us..."

"But she is more trustful than Ursula or Oogie Boogie have ever been," the feline enchantress countered. "You know she has been waiting for a chance of revenge on that senile fool of a magician, Merlin."

"Very well... let's just hope she knows what she is doing. And let's also hope that her thoughts about revenge don't distract her too much from her actual mission."

* * *

The obese, ugly with with the purple hair sniffled a few times, as she slowly walked around the mage's study.

"Meeeerlin," she chanted. "Come out, come out, wherever you are. Madam Mim has come home, and she brought evil thoughts of revenge..."

She huffed as she realized that Merlin wasn't in the room. She threw a look at the computer standing in one corner of the room and giggled. "My, my, dear Merlin, what's wrong with you those days? Keeping such a technological monstrosity in your house? Shame on you."

She walked past a dusty old bookshelf, not noticing the pair of eyes that looked out from behind an especially big book.

"I still don't understand it, Merlin..." a female voice whispered. "Why didn't you allow me to go out there and kick her butt?"

"My dear, many of those instruments within my study are very delicate, and we don't want them to be damaged in the battle that would have followed. And don't forget about Winnie Pooh's book. We simply wait until she leaves the house, then we can go after her."

"And you're sure that she can't get anything out of Cid's computer?"

"No doubt about that," Merlin replied. "They would have to go to Ansem's computer directly to gather anything valuable."

"Still, what is she looking for? I doubt she's here just because of revenge..."

"You're quite right, Yuffie," Merlin sighed. "If it were just revenge, Madam Mim would have behaved differently. It looks like she is searching for something... but what?"

The female mouse wearing a black bandana sighed and leaned back against the book's cover. "This sucks... I mean, did you have to turn us into mice, of all things? I would have easily been able to hide using my ninja skills, you know?"

"Too late for that, I'm afraid," the blue-furred mouse with the mustache said. "Just be patient, she will leave sooner or later..."

Just then, the witch turned around. "Did I hear anything?" she asked herself. Yuffie instantly covered her little mouth with her forepaws.

Madam Mim giggled insanely as she looked over to where the bookshelf was standing. "Oooooh, clever, Merlin... but not clever enough." She crouched down on the floor. "You see, you can run, my old friend, you can hide... but in the end, I will hunt you down!"

And having said that, she turned herself into a fat, pink-furred cat.

Yuffie yelped, then threw the old magician an angry glare. "We just wait until she leaves, right? Great plan..."


	7. Old friends

"Oh my, oh my..." Merlin muttered to himself, as he and Yuffie were scampering through the old bookshelf. "That won't do, that won't do at all..."

"What are you waiting for?" the ninja-mouse shouted. "Change us back!"

"In the middle of a bookshelf?" Merlin coughed. "You must be joking. Do you want to come bursting through the books and destroy the entire furniture with your body size? We have to get down on the floor first."

Yuffie wanted to scream. Couldn't be ANYTHING about the old wizard be non-complicated?

"Come to me, my tasty little morsels," the Mim-cat cackled as she prepared to pounce.

"Come, this way!" Merlin said as he lead Yuffie through the maze of old, magical books and tomes. "I think this is the way we came..."

"GOTCHA!" Mim shouted, as her fat, furry body came flying against the bookshelf.

Yuffie squeaked in surprise, as suddenly, all the books around her started to collapse. Only because of her ninja reflexes could she avoid being squashed.

She coughed as a big cloud of dust rose all around her. "Dammit, I can't see a thing," she cursed. "Merlin! Merlin, where are you?"

Then she saw the blue-furred form of the transformed magician... Merlin was lying limp between two books that had fallen over each other.

Yuffie gasped. "Hey! Hey, Merlin! Old geezer! C'mon, get up! You think I wanna stay a mouse for the rest of the day?"

She patted his paws and felt his head, before she realized that it would take some time before Merlin would get up.

"Dang, he's unconscious... Oh, that's just great!"

Suddenly, Yuffie realized that this also meant she would have to stay in her furry shape for now.

To make things worse, a giant paw with pink fur suddenly appeared in front of her, fumbling around the shelf.

"Heeeere, mousie, mousie... come to Auntie Mim!"

Yuffie gave off an unladylike curse and looked around. She quickly dragged Merlin's body out of the collapsed books and hid it in the farthest corner of the shelf, where Mim wouldn't be able to reach him... at least not if she wouldn't tip over the entire furniture.

Nimbly, as if she was born with four legs, Yuffie skittered through the books and climbed to the top of the bookshelf, where only a few old books were positioned.

"Hey, you fat old hag!" she shouted while waving around her tiny forelegs. "I'm up here!"

Having said that, she ran over to a single book that was lying nearby and pushed against it with all her might. It didn't move, so she chose a different tactic.

"Hi-ya!" she yelled, as she kicked it with a powerful ninja kick.

The very old, and VERY heavy tome slightly tilted left, then right... and then it fell down the bookshelf, directly on top of a certain cat's head.

Mim could only utter a short 'urk', as the massive tome came crashing down on top of her. She lost her hold on the bookshelf, and fell to the floor, where the big book pressed her down to the ground.

"ACK! Oof! Ow, ow! Oooooh, I'll get you for this, you pesky little..."

Cursing all the while, Mim waved around the air with her four legs, trying to pry the book off her stomach, while she was lying on her backside. She never once got the idea to just turn back to her old, human self.

Yuffie giggled to herself. "That should stop her for a while. Now, if only Merlin would wake up soon..."

"Hey!"

Yuffie blinked. Where did that come from?

"Hey, over here!"

"Oh, great," Yuffie groaned. "Now I'm starting to hear voices..."

"I'm up here! Hurry, before that cat recovers!"

Yuffie looked up and saw a small hole on the ceiling... and she almost didn't believe her own eyes, when she saw a tiny rope-ladder coming down. An actual, mouse-sized rope-ladder.

She could see a tiny head looking out of the hole. "What's the matter? You want her to catch you? Come on!"

Well, as long as Yuffie knew that Mim wouldn't be able to find Merlin where he was...

She quickly climbed up the rope-ladder and entered a small cave behind the study's wall. No... make that a shaft.

An elevator shaft.

Yuffie just stared at the weird contraption in front of her: An elevator, made of an old, rusty bucket, that was dangling from a rope, a rope that had been wound around a pulley.

But she also stared when she saw the blonde, bipedal mouse that was wearing a purple jumpsuit and pair of goggles atop her head.

"Phew, that was a close one," the female mouse said. "You really were lucky that I saw you down there. I was just trying out my new invention: This elevator! You know, I managed to knock up a little motor, one that's driven by a battery I picked up from the ground that one day. That had been some hard work, fasting that pulley at the top of the shaft, I can tell ya. Oh, by the way, my name's Gadget. Gadget Hackwrench. And who are you?"

Yuffie blinked. She hadn't believed the mouse-girl would actually stop talking. "Um, I'm Yuffie. Listen, my friend is still out there. And that's no actual cat, you know? She's a witch!"

"Oh, my friends and I met a witch once. She had those nasty helpers... A spider, a snake and a bat... Well, Foxglove wasn't really bad, in the end, she helped us out... Hmmm... now what was the name of that witch again?"

"Listen!" Yuffie nearly screamed into Gadget's big ear. "We need to take care of the witch NOW, you hear me?"

"Oh, excuse me! Sometimes, I just tend to prattle on. Well, I've been living in this house for some time, you know..."

Yuffie groaned, expecting yet ANOTHER round of meaningless babble.

"...and I installed this very useful trap, just in case some unwanted visitor would show up. I don't think the humans have noticed it by now..."

"No, we didn't notice," Yuffie sighed. "In case you haven't noticed, I AM one of those humans. Well, I used to be..."

"Oh, did the witch turn you into a mouse?"

"No, it was... but... never mind, listen, can you activate that trap? Because we really need to get rid of that witch."

"Oh, of course I can! Here, follow me!" And Gadget entered the bucket and waved at Yuffie to follow her. When both female mice were sitting inside, Gadget pulled out some strange device that looked like a cross between a walkie-talkie and a drinking straw.

"Well, now all I have to do is push that button..."

"DO IT!" Yuffie screamed.

"Sheesh, no need to yell," Gadget said and pressed the button, which looked very much like an old pinhead (actually, that's what it was, but that's not important now, is it?).

Down below, the battery-driven motor suddenly sprang to life, and the bucket moved down.

Outside, Mim had finally been able to remove that cursed book from her tummy... and when she did, she finally realized that she could have easily changed her form to escape.

"Curses! That's the fault of that stupid ninja-mouse! Oh, I'll get her for this..."

Cackling in a demented way, Mim transformed herself into a bat and flew up to the top of the bookshelf.

"Dang!" the pink-furred bat cursed. "She's gone! Where can she be?" That's when her gaze suddenly fell to the hole above her head.

She grinned. "I'm coming, my little prey..." She flew up to the hole and peered down the elevator shaft.

With an evil grin, she turned into a venomous snake... and slithered down into the hole.

Yuffie gasped as she looked up. "Gadget, watch out! It's that witch! She has turned into a snake! Can't this bucket go any faster?"

"Let's see..." the inventor-girl murmured. "Where was the acceleration button again...?"

"Gadget, HURRY!"

"Time for supper!" Mim laughed as she opened her jaws wide...

...and slammed directly into the grating that came out of the wall.

Gadget lifted her finger from the button on her remote control. "Oops," she said. "Well, that wasn't the acceleration button, but it surely helped us, right?"

The bucket reached the bottom of the shaft, and the two mice jumped out.

Mim angrily pulled her jaw off the grating that was blocking her way. "Damn you little pests!" she hissed. "There just has to be another way to get down there... I'll just have to find it."

Yuffie followed Gadget through a small tunnel, until they reached a bigger cave, which was filled with all kinds of weird gadgets and mouse-sized machinery. She even saw something that looked like a zeppelin, made of an old shampoo bottle and a few balloons.

Gadget smiled. "Welcome to my workshop!"

Yuffie was dumbfounded. How had that little mouse been able to hide all of that stuff behind the house's walls for all that time?

She shook her head. "Okay, okay, how does that trap of yours work?"

"Oh, right! Um, would you please take a look through that periscope over there?" Gadget asked while she ran over to a BIG switch.

Yuffie did as she was told... and realized she was looking directly into the study. The lenses of that periscope must be situated somewhere on the western wall of the room, near the window. When turning the periscope around, she could see every single corner of the room.

"Can you see the witch?" Gadget asked.

"Um, not really..." Yuffie murmured. "Wait, I think that's her." And really, the ugly hag just came crawling back out of the elevator shaft, now in the form of a big, fat spider. "Yes, it has to be her. She has just the same mop of hair."

"Okay, tell me when she's standing on top of that discolored floor tile."

Yuffie sweat-dropped. "You CAN'T be serious... how would we know that she ever steps..."

She sighed as she realized that Mim was just doing exactly that. "Never mind... she stepped on it."

* * *

Mim looked up and down the walls, but couldn't find a mousehole anywhere. "Just you wait... she muttered. "I'll tear down the entire wall!"

She was just going to turn into her favorite form (well, except for the dragon form she once used to trick Merlin) - the rhinoceros!

But just as she tried concentrating on the transformation, she heard a weird clicking sound underneath her eight hairy legs.

"Huh? Now what?" she muttered.

She had no time to scream as suddenly, the floor tile sprang out of the floor, attached to a big, elastic spring.

With a yowl, Mim collided with the eastern wall and slid down onto a small, empty, wooden board that was hanging from the wall.

Gadget looked through the periscope herself and nodded. "Yes, just where I want her to be..." She ran around her workshop to yet another switch and turned it around.

At the same time, the wooden board Mim the spider was lying on tilted around, and she slid down a metal slide that ended directly in the chimney Merlin had just installed last summer. Luckily for her, there was no fire burning within.

"And now, for the grand finale!" Gadget grinned smugly. She ran across the room and jumped for a long handle that was dangling from the ceiling. She grabbed it and pulled it down.

Mim groggily tried getting back up to her numerous feet, when she heard yet another clicking sound.

"I don't like this..." she muttered, just before a hidden floor panel underneath her body shot upwards, catapulting her spidery self out of the chimney.

The yell of the transformed witch died away in the distance, as she flew over the roofs of Radiant Garden's town, and soon she became a sparkling spot at the horizon...

Gadget dusted off her hands. "Well, that's that! Easy as pie! Now wasn't that a great invention?"

"I can't really say that your trap is a brilliant invention..." Yuffie said very diplomatically. "But it really saved us. Not bad!"

Well, not bad for a mouse, she mentally added...

"Oh god!" she suddenly shouted. "I totally forgot about Merlin! I have to go and see if he's all right!"

* * *

"So... those black monsters are called 'Heartless', right?" Gatomon asked. "And some of them were being created by the apprentice of that Ansem guy?"

"Right!" Riku nodded. "Several people have used the Heartless for their own sinister plans ever since..."

"But we showed them who's boss," Sora grinned as he brandished his Keyblade.

Kari took her own little keychain and compared it with the small chain that was dangling down from Sora's weapon. "Those two... look different from each other."

"They are," King Mickey said. "I remember now... Ansem the Wise... he successfully created an artificial heart, made of digital data. Heartmon!" He once again gestured over to where Heartmon was sitting. "And that keychain you are holding, Kari... it's one of the components that he needed to accomplish this feat. The 'Keychain of Light'!"

"Light..." Kari sighed as she clutched the keychain. "It's always light with me. The Crest of Light, the Digi-Egg of Light... and now the Keychain of Light."

"But, um, King Mickey..." Goofy spoke up. "How come that keychain appeared in her world?"

"That's what I was wondering, too," Sora nodded. "And what has Heartmon to do with all of this?"

"Well, you see..."

Just then, the door opened, and some other people entered the room.

"Sorry we're late," Leon apologized. "We just had to find Cid. He and that Gearloose fellow just couldn't stop talking."

"Hey, it doesn't happen every day that you meet someone as smart as me," Cid chuckled.

"It's all right," King Mickey said. "Everyone, meet Kari and Gatomon. And... Heartmon."

Aerith gasped. "H-heartmon? Can it be?"

"You know him?"

Cid scratched his head. "Well... he does look familiar, ya know?"

Heartmon looked up from his fruit, into the face of the young woman that was looking down at him. Those bright, cheerful eyes... has he seen them before?

"Aerith-chan?"

Aerith clasped her hands in joy. "It IS him! And he remembers us! Leon, come here! You know who that is? It's little Heartmon, the small guy we used to play with as children."

"Heartmon?" Leon wondered. "Yes... yes, I remember him. Wasn't he the little guy that lived at... at..."

"At Ansem's place," Cid nodded. "I thought he looked familiar. I wasn't as small as you two back then, so I think I remember a little more than you."

Heartmon looked from one face to another. "Squall? Cid? Why are you so big?"

Leon sighed. "That's Leon..."

Aerith smiled. "Such things happen when people grow up, Heartmon. We're adults now." She shook her head. "But, where have you been all the time? We almost forgot about you! You disappeared before... before..."

"Before the darkness claimed our world..." Leon grumbled.

"So, you know this Digimon?" Gatomon asked. "But even if he is an artificial heart, why is he just like a Digimon?"

"I think I can answer that question," Mickey replied. "I remember that one day, when I once again visited my old friend, Ansem the Wise..."

* * *

The door to the computer room opened. "Ansem?"

Ansem the Wise turned around from his computer. A smile parted his blonde beard. "My friend! Good to see that you made it." He turned back to the console and looked at the screen in excitement. "Will you look at that? I believe we finally managed to find the right components."

King Mickey stepped up to the tall man. "You are still researching the hearts, are you?"

"Of course! Imagine what we can accomplish with the results of my research! It's all so exciting... I almost feel young again."

He shook his head, smiling. "Well, however... Would you take a look at this? My assistants just found another, new world the other day."

Mickey looked at the computer screen, which showed pictures of an unknown land, populated with strange creatures.

"They took those pictures upon landing with the Gummi Ship," Ansem explained. "By the way, I still have to thank you for providing us with such a vessel. Researching the other worlds has become much more easier this way."

"You're welcome, but... what about that world? There aren't any humans living there, correct?"

"No, definitely not! From what my boys could learn, those beings call themselves 'Digimon'. And, my friend..." Once again, a big smile appeared on Ansem's face. "They're completely made of digital data."

"Truly?" Mickey said in awe. "Living beings, made of data? Wow! Now that's amazing!"

"Indeed, it is... and that's not all! This so-called 'Digital World' exists right next to another world, populated by humans. And it seems like the Digimon are able to cross the border between those worlds, even though the other world does not consist of data. It is most intriguing..."

"Well, but what does this have to do with your research?"

"Observe!" Ansem pushed a few buttons, and the images of the Digital World vanished. Instead, the picture of a cute little creature appeared on screen.

The king blinked. "That... that is..."

Ansem nodded. "Yes! It is just like those Digimon that are inhabiting the Digital World. An artificial being, made of digital data. Although I have yet to create it, I think I might be able to do it, using this computer and my machines. And, think of it: The Digimon are living creatures, meaning they have hearts as well. And because they were made of data, it was very easy for my assistants to scan one of them. I put this data into my computer and designed this new Digimon."

He turned around to face his friend. "King Mickey... I might be able to create a heart! A heart for this little creature. Isn't that marvelous?"

Well, Mickey was astonished... but he also was worried. "My friend... I've known you for some time now, and I have to ask you: Is that wise? Creating life out of thin air? Who knows what might happen."

"I know what you mean," Ansem replied. "And I agree that hearts can be very unpredictable, but... I believe the scanned data of the Digimon can help me with my project. Imagine... if this will be a success, we can understand the heart and its functions so much better. And, who knows... maybe we can use this knowledge for the good of all living beings."

Mickey sighed. Well, he would respect his friend's decision for now. But still...

"Well, there is one thing I'm still curious about..."

"What could that be, my friend?"

Mickey gestured at the image of the small mouse with the big heart on its stomach. "Is it just a coincidence that he looks so much like me?"

Ansem the Wise laughed. "No, you are right... As you are my friend and the closest confident I ever had, I simply wanted to honor you... by giving this Digimon several of your traits. You don't mind, do you?"

"Um... no, that's fine. I was just wondering..."

"Master?" A tall, muscular man dressed in a white lab coat entered the room.

"Yes, what is it, Aeleus?" Ansem asked. "You see that I have a guest, don't you?"

"I'm sorry, master, but..." the tall man seemed nervous. "Mr. Norg wants to talk to you. He sounded very urgent."

Ansem sighed deeply. "I see... He probably wants to talk about our finances again. Very well, Aeleus... thanks for the message. Is that all?"

"Yes, master!" The assistant bowed and left the room.

"I'm afraid we have to adjourn our conversation for now, my friend," Ansem said. "It has been a pleasure, like always."

"But Ansem..." Mickey spoke up one final time. "About this Digimon project... do you really believe that..."

Ansem the Wise looked directly into his friend's face. "I appreciate your concerns, but trust me with this one. I know what I am doing, and I know I can trust all of my assistants with my life... as I trust you, King Mickey!"

Mickey sighed, then shook hands with Radiant Garden's ruler. "Very well then... I'll leave everything to you. Until we meet again, Wise Ansem!"

* * *

The others had listened in awe.

"So, you knew about the Digital World and our own home world," Kari realized. "Sounds exciting... having visitors from another world visiting and never noticing."

"So, all of this happened before Xehanort went mad and used Ansem's own name to continue his research," Kairi said. "Still, what's with that keychain?"

"There are eight aspects of the Digital World that every Digimon is composed of," Mickey explained. "Some more, some less, but nevertheless every Digimon contains at least a tiny bit of each aspect within. Ansem created eight keychains, each of them containing just a bit of one of the aspects."

"And what aspects would that be?" Donald asked, impatiently.

"I think I know..." Kari said. She looked at the crest of light that was visible on her new keychain.

"Light... Hope... Courage... Friendship... Love... Knowledge... Sincerity... and Reliability."

"The eight crests!" Gatomon gasped. "He created Heartmon using their powers?"

Sora looked at Heartmon, and the cute little guy looked back at him with a curious face. Sora looked back at the king, and at Heartmon again. "You know, you two DO look similar to each other..."

"I never realized the similarities," Leon smirked. "But I do wonder where Heartmon has been for all those years."

Heartmon smiled. "Did you miss me, Squall?"

The gunblade-wielding warrior sighed. "I am Leon..."

"Of course he did," Aerith smiled as she scooped up Heartmon in her arms. "We all did. But where have you been, little guy?"

Heartmon blinked, then gestured at the Keychain of Light.

"In there!"


	8. Oops, wrong button

All occupants of the room stared at Heartmon.

"Within the keychain?" Queen Minnie asked in wonder. "How is that possible?"

"Who knows," Leon shrugged. "Heartmon is a digital life form... maybe Ansem was able to save his data on that keychain like on some data storage medium."

Sora scratched his head. "Data... what?"

Mickey sighed. "Like on a floppy disk or a CD," he explained.

"Aaah..." Sora nodded, not really understanding. But... could you blame him? His home islands weren't exactly known for their highly developed technology.

"And what happened to those keychains?" Kari asked. "I mean, if what you said is true, shouldn't they still be where this Ansem guy stored them?"

"I thought so too," the king nodded. "But I wonder what really happened that day, when Xehanort betrayed his master and turned himself and the other five lab assistants into Nobodies..."

"Ya know, maybe they got eaten by the Heartless," Goofy suggested.

"Quit speaking nonsense!" Donald quacked angrily. "Why would a Heartless eat something like that?"

Cid tapped his forehead thoughtfully. "Ya know, I think our lop-eared friend ain't half wrong about that. Think about it, those keychains are fragments of a digital heart, right? So what if the Heartless released by Ansem's apprentice found those by accident and tried consuming them."

"That would also explain why Xemnas never bothered to use them for his own purposes," Leon nodded.

Riku shook his head. "Well, the big question is: What on earth would happen if a Heartless would try to consume such a keychain like a heart?"

"I can't really say for sure," the king said. "Ansem the Wise was the only person with the necessary expertise in that area. But I would assume that they wouldn't be lost to darkness completely, because they're only part of a heart."

Gatomon had a hunch. "Would it be possible that one of those Heartless consumed one of the keychains, and it rested within its body for a long time? What would happen if that Heartless would be destroyed?"

"Might be," Leon shrugged. "I guess if that happened, the corrupted heart of the Heartless would be released as usual, and the keychain most likely along with it."

Gatomon nodded. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Because this keychain appeared right after we saved our friend Ken from that big armored Heartless."

"I got it!" Sora smacked his fist in his palm. "The Heartless have consumed the keychains during their assault on Radiant Garden, they grew more powerful after consuming more hearts and during all that time, the keychains remained within their bodies... which means we just have to search for those other stray Heartless and defeat them, so the keychains are released again."

"What for?" Cid asked simply.

Sora raised a finger. "Becaaauuuusse... um..."

"You don't have a clue, like always," Riku sighed.

"But I am... well, I was the bearer of the Crest of Light..." Kari spoke up. "Maybe it was no coincidence that this keychain found its way to me."

"Not a bad thought," Mickey said. "Maybe the other keychains will try to find a way to their rightful bearers, too."

"If that's true, they would most likely also appear back in our home world," Gatomon said. "Except for Kari and our friend T.K., all the former crest bearers are still back at home."

"Yeah," Kari nodded. "My brother Tai owned the Crest of Courage, my friend Sora the Crest of Love..."

"You mentioned some sort of eggs earlier," Aerith interrupted her. "Right? Are those similar to the crests?"

"Um, not really," Kari explained. "T.K. and I own the same Digi-Armor-Eggs that match with our old crests, but the other eggs found other holders... Younger Digidestined, about as old as T.K. and I are." She smirked. "Tai always used to call them the 'new generation of Digidestined'."

"Well, then I wonder if those keychains found you because of your crest or your litchi egg," Goofy pondered.

"That's Digi-Egg!" Donald reminded him.

"A-hyuck! Yes, that's what I meant!"

Kari sighed. "Guys, as interesting as this conversation has been... I really have to find my friends, you know? Me and Gatomon weren't the only ones to disappear through that Gateway of Light."

"Is there any way we can find them?" Gatomon asked.

"Well, that's tricky..." Cid grumbled. "If that Gateway of Light is anything similar to the corridors of darkness those Organization freaks have been using, there's no telling where they might have ended up."

"We can still search for them, using our Gummi Ships," Mickey said when he saw the disappointed faces of his two guests. "After we managed to defeat the Organization, we constructed five more vessels, similar to the Highwind."

"That's our ship!" Sora grinned and pointed as his chest.

"Hey, you used the name I came up with for our raft!" Riku suddenly shouted.

"I know, what's the problem?"

"You just take my idea to use it for your ship? You've got some nerve!" the white-haired boy huffed.

"Stop that!" Kairi scolded. "Kari's friends need our help, and they need it now. We have no time to argue about the name of a ship. Your Majesty, would it be possible to search for her friends in groups? We don't really know where to search, so that might be the best way to find them."

"Maybe you're right," Mickey nodded. "And if they are the future holders of the keychains, we might need more information about them. Leon, would you go back to Radiant Garden and search through Ansem's old data? Maybe even a little clue would help us."

"We're on it," the de facto leader of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee nodded. "I might not be within the DTD memory, but perhaps Tron has heard about something like that before."

"All right, then the rest of us split up and help Kari search for her friends," Sora grinned. "A big adventure, just like in old times!"

"But this time, I'm coming with you!" Riku grinned and playfully nudged his friend's shoulders.

"Okay!" Mickey nodded. "Minnie, you and Kairi can stay back here and..."

"Just a moment!" Kairi spoke up. "Why do I have to stay behind?"

"Kairi, we'd love to take you with us," Donald said. "But it's very dangerous, you know?"

"I don't care!" the red-haired girl replied. "I don't want to stay home again and wait for a long time until you come back." She looked sternly at Riku and Sora. "You taught me how to use my new Keyblade, right? So I know how to take care of myself. I'm coming with you, like it or not!"

Kari couldn't help it: She grinned. This conversation reminded her too much of her own discussions with Davis.

"Well, I have to admit, she actually made some progress with her Passion Flower," Riku said.

"Passion Flower?" Donald and Goofy asked simultaneously.

"The name I chose for my Keyblade," Kairi explained proudly and summoned it out of thin air. "The name fits, don't you think?" Donald and Goofy nodded when they saw the flowery pattern that was spreading all over Kairi's colorful Keyblade.

"All right, then come along, I don't mind," Sora sighed. "Still, I'll be worried..."

Kairi grinned and bopped him on the head with her Passion Flower's handle. "Silly! Do you think I wouldn't be less worried about you?"

"So, it's settled?" Queen Minnie asked with a sigh. "You'll leave again?"

"Someone has to help those kids," Mickey said to his wife. "If we don't do it, who else is gonna do it? You know my policy!"

"Yes," Minnie sighed. "Help others, then you might ask for help!"

"Exactly!" Mickey nodded. "But don't you worry! I'll be back soon!"

"Then I guess I'll just go and tell Chip and Dale to prepare the Gummi Ships," the queen said with a heavy heart.

As she left the room, the king let out a sigh himself. "It's not easy, leaving her behind all the time. But someone has to take care of the castle, after all."

"I... thank you all for your help," Kari spoke up. "I really appreciate it. If only we had a clue where to search for them..."

"We just have to believe in ourselves," Sora tried calming her down. "I learned that no matter how dire the situation is, there's always a way out of it."

"Yup, ya gotta be funny all the time, like us," Goofy grinned.

Kari giggled. Those fellas really were silly sometimes... but they also knew how to cheer her up.

Aerith smiled down at Heartmon, who looked back at her with a confused expression. The little guy really didn't understand half of what has been said.

"So, Heartmon," she said after picking him up from the table. "Ready to go home after so many years?"

"We're gonna go home?" the little Digimon cheered. "Yay! I'm gonna see Daddy again!"

Aerith looked at Leon with a worried face, and the warrior raised his hand to his forehead with a groan. Now how would they tell Heartmon that his 'Daddy' Ansem was no longer among the living...?

* * *

Kari watched in amazement as the big machinery within the Gummi Ship hangar was preparing the three enormous vessels for takeoff. It was hard to imagine that all of those gadgets were actually controlled by just two little chipmunks in engineer's clothes.

And what a sight those ships were: The Highwind, the Ragnarok and the Hilda Garde. All of them ready for a flight into the unknown...

"Why would Ansem create eight keychains that represent the aspects of the Digital World?" Kairi pondered, as she stood next to her new friend Kairi. "What for?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" the king asked sheepishly, as he turned around from his conversation with Sora and Riku. "Those are what he needed to create Heartmon in the first place."

He counted the eight crests on his fingers. "Courage, Love, Friendship, Knowledge, Reliability, Sincerity, Hope and Light. Those are the components of every digital heart, so he told me. Fused with a special component, with the correct procedure, they will create a heart."

"Wow!" Gatomon shouted in awe. She looked down at her own body. "So, that means my heart is composed of those things as well?"

"I think so," the king nodded. "But I still wonder why the keychain of light would choose a wielder... it's not a weapon, like a Keyblade."

"Well, we just have to find out, have we?" Sora said confidently.

Riku shook his head. "I wish I had your confidence..." he chuckled. "By the way, where's our dopey duo?"

"Hey, Donald and Goofy are not dopey," Sora shouted.

"Well, they can be pretty silly sometimes," Kairi giggled. "I believe they already went aboard the Ragnarok, to check the instruments."

"The Ragnarok?" Riku groaned. "What are they doing there? They were supposed to take the Highwind. The Ragnarok was supposed to be the ship for the search party consisting of me, Sora and Kairi."

"Well, we probably should go get them," Mickey said. "The Ragnarok's ready for takeoff. You should go on board soon, anyway."

"Never mind..." Riku sighed. "I'll go get them myself..."

Kairi giggled as she watched Riku walk over the gangway and into the black- and red-colored Gummi Ship. "Those two really make Riku mad sometimes, you know? I suppose someone as cool and collected as him can't really understand why the two of them never take anything seriously."

"Oh, they take everything they do very seriously," Mickey proclaimed. "It's just that their ways of reaching their goals are different from the ways Riku is used to."

"Well, then I guess it's a good idea that we didn't put the three of them into the same search party," Kari snickered.

* * *

"What does this button do?"

"Don't touch it, Goofy! That's the start button."

"Garwsh, sorry 'bout that, Donald! I was just curious, ya know?"

"Hey, what are you two doing?" Riku asked as he entered the cockpit.

"We were just checking if everything is all right," Goofy told him.

"But this isn't the ship you're taking," Riku groaned.

"It isn't?" Goofy asked, puzzled.

"It isn't?" Donald echoed. "Uh, I mean... Of course it isn't!" He gave his tall, lanky companion a shove. "See, I told you this was the wrong ship. Can't you do anything right?"

"But Donald," Goofy protested. "I thought you were the one who told me that this would be..."

"Don't interrupt me!" the royal court magician quacked. "I'm not finished!" Angrily, he slammed his fist down on the console next to him.

Suddenly, red lights began flashing all around them.

Donald gulped. "Uh-oh..." he said, as he lifted his fist from the button he just pressed: The start button!

"What did you do?" Riku yelled.

"This can't be good," Goofy murmured.

"I-I-I... I didn't mean to..." Donald protested.

But it was too late: On the screen, the message 'Initiating Launch! Please fasten your seat belts!' appeared.

Goofy and Donald looked at each other.

"Oh no..."

* * *

Sora, Mickey and Kairi gasped in surprise, when suddenly, the lights all around the Ragnarok sprung to life and the entrance door got closed.

"What happened?" Kari asked.

"Oh dear..." the king sighed. "They must have pressed the start button."

"Can't we stop them in time?" Kairi asked.

All of a sudden, the circular hatch below the Ragnarok opened, and a bright, flashing arrow pointed downwards.

"WHAAAAAAAHOOHOOHOHOOOOOOH!" Goofy's yell echoed through the entire hangar, accompanied by Donald's insane quacking, as the whole ship plummeted down.

Gatomon blinked. "Um, what just happened?"

Mickey shrugged. "They just left the world. Oh well! Looks like the formations of the search parties will be slightly different from what we planned..."

* * *

"Oh boy oh boy oh boy!" Heartmon shouted in excitement as he bounced up and down on his seat. "I can't wait to come home again! Hey, are we there yet?"

Cid, who was sitting at the controls of the Shera, smirked. "Not yet, kid! We still have some way to go."

"Oh... okay!" Heartmon sat back down and happily hummed to himself.

Aerith looked over to Leon in worry. They still hadn't brought themselves to tell Heartmon about what happened to his 'father'. They were so glad to see their childhood friend again, and they didn't want to make him sad.

Still, they knew they had to tell him some time, so Leon swore to himself he would tell Heartmon right after they reached Radiant Garden.

"Poor little guy..." he muttered to himself. "Too young to understand the misery of life, and he already has lost the one person that has been the most important figure in his life..."

"Huh? Did you say something, Squall?" Heartmon asked.

'Squall' sighed. "No, it's nothing... and please, call me 'Leon', okay?"

Heartmon smiled. "Okay, Squall!"

Leon groaned.

Heartmon hopped around the cockpit happily.

"Hey, are we there yet?" he asked Cid.

"No!"

"And now?"

"No!"

"And now?"

"No!"

"What about now?"

Cid gritted his teeth. "Listen, we won't be there as long as you continue to bother me!"

"Whaaaah!" Heartmon cried as he dove into Aerith's arms. "Cid's being a meanie..."

Aerith chuckled as she stroked Heartmon's head to calm him down. "Cid, you really aren't good with children, are you?"

"Ain't that the truth..." the pilot grumbled.


	9. Lucky charm or lucky cricket?

Quackerjack and Megavolt struggled against the rope that was wrapped around their bodies.

"This is your fault, you know that?" Quackerjack made his doll Mr. Banana Brain say.

"No, it's not!" the insane, electric supervillain snapped. "It's because your stupid squirt flower short-circuited me."

"It's because the bolts you shot around destroyed my toy darlings, Sparky!"

"DON'T CALL ME SPARKY!"

"Well, well, well..." Darkwing Duck smugly said. "That's another evil plot thwarted by the cunning skills of Darkwing Duck!"

Ken sweatdropped as he looked at the still arguing pair of supervillains. "Are they always like that?"

"Yes, more or less," Darkwing shrugged. "Maybe not as much when Negaduck commands them."

"Nega... duck?" Ken asked in disbelief.

"Of course!" the caped superhero said grimly while sitting down on his trusty Ratcatcher motorcycle. "My worst adversary! And I STILL didn't manage to catch him. Every time I think I came up with a fool-proof plan, one of the other would-be-villains like Megavolt, Quackerjack, Bushroot, Tuskerninni or the Liquidator intervenes."

Ken exchanged a worried look with Wormmon. What kind of city was this, if there were so many weirdos running around?

Ken looked over to where the police was carting the two villains off to prison. "And when you fight all of those guys... you always do this by yourself?"

"Well, mostly..." Darkwing replied. "Of course, there's always my loyal sidekick Launchpad... and sometimes this so-called 'hero' Gizmoduck shows up in town... but he's more like a nuisance. Hah! He should leave the crime-fighting to the REAL superheroes!"

"Say... Mr. Darkwing..."

"Just Darkwing to my fans, please!" the superhero chuckled.

"Well then, Darkwing... you know, Wormmon and I are kinda... lost. We aren't exactly citizens and never have been in this town. Also, we're looking for our friends..."

"Don't say anything more," Darkwing said as he turned around in his seat. "You want me, St. Canards greatest hero, to help you find your lost friends, is that correct?"

"I suppose we could use your help, yeah..."

"Well, it IS my job to help those in need... And I can't say I'm really surprised that you are new in town. After all, it's not like there are many humans living around here."

"So... you mean everyone around here is just like you?" Wormmon asked.

"NO ONE is just like me," Darkwing shot back, slightly offended.

"He meant if everyone living here in - St. Canard, was it? - would be... Well, a humanoid animal."

"Hmmm..." Darkwing scratched his chin. "Interesting way to put it. I already heard 'antropomorphs' or 'furries', but I think I prefer your choice of words. Okay then, about your friends... don't worry, my boy! I shall find them before you can say 'Let's get dangerous!'"

"Umm..." Wormmon said in confusion. "Let's get dangerous?"

"Hey, that's my line!" Darkwing shouted. "Now, please come along with me, so I can ask my infallible computer, back at my hideout, about your friends. Maybe there's some information about them stored in my database... if not, we can still search from above, in my personal airplane, the Thunderquack!"

Wormmon blinked, then looked up to his friend. "Um, Ken? I somehow have the feeling that something bad will happen if we trust in the abilitys of this guy."

"I know what you mean," Ken sighed. "But we really have no other choice, have we? I mean, we are stranded in an unknown world of... let's say BIZARRE proportions, and we wouldn't know where to start to search for the others by ourselves."

"Hey, I don't have the whole night," Darkwing shouted. "So if you two would please enter the side car, so we can leave?"

"Oh, of course!"

They got in, and Darkwing got ready to start his vehicle.

CRASH!

"Heh, heh..." Darkwing chuckled weakly and looked back, where half of the Ratcatcher was embedded in the house wall. "I guess that was the reverse gear..."

"Ken..." Wormmon mumbled.

"Yes?" Ken asked dizzily.

"We're doomed!"

* * *

On the other side of St. Canard, a trio of persons stood in-between the huge storehouses that were located at the harbor.

Strangely enough, only one of those guys would look out of place in this town, a white-haired boy with two fierce eyes who looked down at his two companions with a piercing glare.

"You know we WOULD have been able to turn around the Gummi Jet if you two hadn't broken the steering stick, right?"

"We're sorry!" Donald and Goofy said sheepishly while looking down at the ground.

"And you know we would have been able to tell the others about our situation if you hadn't smashed the radio equipment in your fit of rage, right, Donald?"

"I'm sorry!" the duck sighed.

"And you know we just MIGHT have been able to fix everything if you didn't forget to bring some tools with you, right, Goofy?"

"I'm sorry, Riku!" Goofy muttered.

Riku sighed. "Never mind... Oh well, maybe we can find something to fix our Gummi Ship in this world..."

"You're right," Donald nodded. "And maybe one of Kari's friends is around here, too."

Riku smirked. "I suppose you two got that confidence from Sora, did you?"

"Well, it helps us to never give up, even if things look bad," Goofy smiled.

"I suppose so..." the white-haired boy sighed. "Okay, anyone got a clue which world this could be?"

Goofy shook his head. Donald tapped his chin. "You know... something about it looks familiar... but I can't put my finger on it."

Riku shook his head. "Never mind... we will just have to find out, will we? Okay, let's go!"

And while Riku, Donald and Goofy left the scene, an observant pair of eyes was watching them from the shadows.

"So let me get this straight..." the black-masked duck asked in his sinister voice. "You want me to get rid of those three twerps, and in exchange I get the power to control those... how did you call them... Heartless?"

"Why, yes!" Mirage smirked. "And if you sign this binding, magical contract, I'll even pay you in advance."

"Hmmm..." Negaduck pondered while reading through the glowing piece of paper. "Sounds tempting... are you sure there is no small print?"

"Would you ever doubt what I say?" the enchantress asked in a hurt voice.

"Yes," Negaduck exclaimed. "But that's okay, because there's really only one person I'll ever trust."

Mirage raised an eyebrow. "And that would be?"

Darkwing Duck's archnemesis grinned. "Me!" He chuckled. "Okay, I guess I'll sign your pretty little contract..."

"Just like this?"

"Well, let's just say I would really, really like to see those Heartless rip out Darkwing's heart. Nyeheheheheh... BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

* * *

"I suppose you are all ready to go?" the king asked.

Sora, Kairi, Kari and Gatomon turned around to face him and nodded. Mickey nodded back, then he looked at Kairi.

"Kairi...is this really what you want?"

Kairi looked from the boy she, um... really, really liked to the girl who shared so much more with her than just a name similarity and who had become her friend in such a short time.

'No,' she told herself. 'I'm never gonna let Sora go by himself again. I'm going with him this time.' She then sighed and looked at Kari and her Digimon partner. 'But... I also want to go with Kari. Not only has she become my friend, there's just... something... about her. There has got to be a reason why she is so similar to me. And I know that I could never ask her to go without her partner Digimon. So...'

She looked back at the king. "Yes," she simply said. The king nodded and understood. "Very well," he sighed. "Then I guess I'll just go by myself, then..."

"Bark! Bark!"

Mickey chuckled as his four-legged friend ran around him in circles. "I'm sorry, Pluto! I mean, it's just gonna be the two of us, buddy!

All right," he said. "I guess I'm off then. Sora... you know the Highwind like the back of your hand, so it's just common sense that the four of you will use her. And remember: Always trust in the power of your Keyblade and the friendship within your hearts."

Sora nodded. "Don't you worry, your majesty! I'm gonna keep an eye on the girls."

Three pairs of eyes suddenly glared at him. "And just what do you mean by that, mister?" Kairi asked dangerously.

"H-hey, I didn't mean it like that," Sora stuttered and raised his hands in defense. "I just thought, well... you're not as used to battle as I am, so..."

"We've been in more battles than you would imagine," Gatomon sighed.

"And I'll be fine too," Kairi grumbled. "I practiced, remember? And I watched you fight the Heartless when I was a passenger of your heart. So I know one or two things about fighting!"

Of course, Kari didn't really understand the last part her new friend said. 'I really have to ask them about everything that happened to them some time,' she told herself.

Mickey chuckled. "Well, good to see that you all get on with each other. Well, good luck to you! And remember to stay in contact with me when aboard the Gummi Ship. And don't worry, Kari... I'll call you as soon as I find one of your friends!"

The king and his loyal dog boarded the Hilda Garde, and shortly after, the bluish-white Gummi Ship dropped out of the hangar just like the Ragnarok did previously.

Sora stretched his arms. "Guess we better head out as well, eh?" He grinned at Kari and Gatomon. "So, first time for you to fly in a Gummi Ship, right? Just wait until you see the inside... it's pretty awesome."

Kari smiled. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

But just as they were going to enter the Highwind, someone came running down the stairs to the Gummi Ship Hangar and shouted: "Sora! Wait up!"

The spiky-haired boy turned around and to his surprise, saw his friend, the female hero from the Land of Dragons, Fa Mulan, running up to him.

"Mulan?" he wondered. "You're still here?"

The Chinese girl nodded as she came to a stop in front of him. "Yes, Shang and I have been staying for the night, and we'll take the next Gummi Ship that brings us back home. I heard about your journey and came to give you a farewell present." She raised the small, wooden cage that she held in her right hand, looking similar to a bird cage, but much smaller. In it, a tiny insect with long feelers and cute eyes was sitting. It chirped at Sora.

"This is Cri-Kee! In my home country, crickets bring good luck. So I want you to take him along with you. I suppose you could use a lucky charm like him."

She handed him the small cage and Sora looked at Cri-Kee. The cute little guy smiled back at him.

"Thanks, but... is he okay with this?"

As if he wanted to assure Sora that he couldn't think of anything more exciting than to join his quest, the cricket jumped up and down in his cage and chirped enthusiastically.

Mulan laughed. "Well, ever since I told him about you, he wanted to meet you. And I can tell you... there's more to the little guy than meets the eye. I'm sure he will be of some help. And he can take care of himself, so don't worry!"

Sora grinned. "Well, it's not like I would have bad experience with crickets... Okay then, welcome aboard, Cri-Kee!"

* * *

Heartmon hopped around the town of Radiant Garden in excitement. "Home, I'm back home! Yay! Yippee!"

Aerith and Leon couldn't help but smile as they saw how glad the little Digimon was to be back home.

Heartmon then looked at the castle, which was still pretty much one big construction site.

"Why does Daddy's house look so funny?" he asked.

Leon smirked. "Well, we are rebuilding it a little bit, Heartmon. Don't worry, it will look much better once we're finished."

Heartmon blinked, then he grinned. "Can you also build a playground next to my room? That would be so cool!"

He then looked around the market place in confusion. "Hey, why didn't Daddy come to see us? Is he busy with his work again?"

Leon gulped. This was the moment he had dreaded. He exchanged a worried look with Aerith and Cid, then he cleared his throat.

"Heartmon, I'm sorry, but..."

"Hey!" a loud voice interrupted his speech. "Nice to see you made it back!" And then Yuffie came running towards them, waving.

She grinned. "Merlin and I were already making bets how late you would be. Just what took you so long, slowpokes?"

Aerith smiled at her. "Yuffie... you won't believe who came home with us." And she gestured at Heartmon.

Yuffie looked at him, blinked and then gasped. "You... can you be..."

Heartmon laughed as he jumped forward and hugged her legs. "Yuffie-chan! I'm back home!" He then looked up at her stunned expression and giggled. "So, you've 'grown up' too, right? Most be cool to be so big!"

A few seconds later, a big grin slowly appeared on the female ninja's face. She scooped the little guy up from the ground and twirled him around. "HEARTMON!" she shouted. "It's you! You're back!" She then cuddled him as if he was some stuffed animal. "Oh boy oh boy, I missed you so much!"

"Urk..." Heartmon moaned. "Yuffie-chan... I like you too, you know, but... I need some air... you know?"

"Oh! Sorry about that," she sheepishly said and put him back down to the ground. "Man! What a surprise! To see you again, of all people!"

She looked at her friends. "Where did you meet him? How? When?"

Leon sighed. "Well, it's a long story, Yuffie..."

"What's with the racket?" Merlin suddenly spoke up as he appeared out of nowhere, in a puff of sparkling smoke. "Did something happen?"

Yuffie smiled. "Merlin, look here! This is Heartmon, our childhood friend! He once lived here in Radiant Garden as well."

"Oh, really?" he asked. "Well, he must be glad to be back, I suppose."

Heartmon nodded with a big smile. "Who are you, gramps? Are you a friend of Yuffie?"

"Well, yes, I am," the old magician chuckled. "And a friend of Leon and Aerith as well. As for Cid..." He threw the engineer a glance. "Well, have to think about that part for a while..."

"Why you old coot..." Cid mumbled under his breath.

"And do you know Daddy as well?" Heartmon asked. "He lives in that big house over there!" And he pointed at the castle.

Merlin looked at the castle in confusion and then looked at Leon with raised eyebrows.

"Ansem," Leon whispered almost inaudibly.

Merlin understood right away. Oh boy, did he feel sorry for the little fella...

"My boy..." he sighed. "I'm afraid your father isn't with us anymore... he's gone." And he petted the Digimon's head compassionately.

Silence.

"...gone?" Heartmon finally asked in a small voice. "Awww... when will he come back?"

When no one answered, he looked from one face to another. "He will come back, will he?"

Aerith knelt down next to her little friend. "I'm sorry, Heartmon..." she whispered. "I don't think he will come back..."

Heartmon began sobbing as he and the young woman embraced each other. "But... why? Doesn't he like us anymore?"

"That's not it," Yuffie tried explaining as she knelt down next to him as well. "That's just... well, that's how things are. Sometimes, people just leave and don't come back... even if they or their friends and family would like to."

Heartmon then cried for a while into Aerith's arms, while she soothingly stroked his back.

He looked up at her with teary eyes, then at Yuffie, Leon and Cid. "But you... you won't leave as well, will you?"

Aerith smiled. "No, of course not! We will stay with you, always! I promise..."

Heartmon nodded. While he was sad that he couldn't see his Daddy anymore, he was happy that at least he was with his friends again.

"Poor little guy..." a worried voice spoke up from Merlin's shoulder. "Isn't there anything we could do to help him?"

Leon, Aerith and Cid looked up in surprise. "Huh?" Cid wondered. "Now where did that come from?"

"Oh, excuse me," Merlin said. "In all the confusion, I totally forgot to introduce you. A-hem... My friends, I would like you to meet our newest cohabitant... Miss Gadget Hackwrench!"

The blonde, jumpsuit-wearing mouse that was sitting on the magician's shoulder smiled shyly. "Please, just call me Gadget!"


	10. Organization's Beach Party

The Highwind left the world of Castle Disney behind, being piloted by Sora's skilled pilot hands.

"Let's hope we don't fly into any Heartless this time," he told his three female fellow crewmates. He grinned back to Kairi. "You know, I'm actually happy you came along... it'll be the first journey with you at my side... not counting the time you were my 'passenger'."

Kairi grinned. "Well, I'm happy, too. This way, I can keep a better eye on you."

Kari giggled. The way those two bickered lovingly with each other reminded her of the Sora from her world and her big brother.

She wished she knew where T.K. was.

"Hey, can you tell me where we are going?" Gatomon asked Sora.

"No idea, there are so many worlds out there... I have been on many of them, but I still don't know how many of them are there," the Keyblade boy shrugged.

"Just flying around blindly, not knowing where we have to go?" Gatomon wondered. "Is that really a smart thing to do?"

"I wouldn't worry," Kairi smirked as she rubbed the chin of the little cricket that had jumped up on her shoulder. "With this little fortune bringer, we're bound to have some luck."

Cri-Kee happily chirped in agreement.

* * *

Roxas frowned when he looked at the screen of the little TV that was standing in the hut. On it, he could see how Kairi was talking with Sora and that other girl and her cat partner.

He was startled when someone put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, why the long face?"

Roxas looked up, into Namine's face. "I... I don't know, Namine... I really have to agree with that cat... do you think they will manage to accomplish anything, even though they don't know where to go?"

Namine smiled. "Hey, that's Sora you're talking about. The boy who managed that Nobodies like us could have a life even after our disappearance from the real world. And when during his journeys did he ever know once where his ship was taking him?"

Roxas agreed that Namine was right. After all, he had seen Sora'a adventures in his dreams... while Namine knew about Sora's past because she had held his memories in her hands during his stay in Castle Oblivion.

"But still... don't you think we should do something to help them?" he asked.

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Namine asked. "Only when we are in this little pocket of reality, can we act as if we were normal human beings... when we leave it, we are limited to being passive watchers."

"Still, we could try and find out if this girl Kari's friends are in some other world..."

"Stop worrying and try to enjoy what we have planned for today," Namine told him with a playful poke to his nose.

The door opened and a grinning face, framed with flame-red hair, looked inside. "Hey, you two lovebirds, are you ready to PARTY?"

"Yeah, we're ready," Namine smiled. "Just a minute, Axel!"

"Awww, is Roxy all mopey?" Axel smirked as he came inside. He grabbed his best friend's chin and pulled his head up, so he would look at him."

"You already forgot why we wanted to have this party?" Axel asked.

"I might have forgotten..." Roxas muttered.

"Well, let me spell it out for you: To! Have! Fun! Got it memorized?"

Roxas had to chuckle at his friend's upbeat demeanor. "Yeah, I got it... okay, okay, I'll stop being mopey and join the fun."

"That's more like it!" Axel laughed and patted Roxas' shoulder.

Roxas then noticed the shirt his buddy was wearing. "Pink?" he asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Don't like it?" Axel asked, taking a pair of sunglasses out of his breast pocket and putting them on. "Well, I think Larx is gonna flip when she sees me in this."

Namine giggled. "No doubt about that, but I think that's mainly because Larxene will be shocked at your sight."

"Good to hear that," Axel smirked, misinterpreting Namine's words. "So, shall we go?"

They left the little hut, one of several huts that were standing on the little island which was literally in the middle of Nowhere... it did not really exist, and thus, it was the perfect resting place for the bodyless Nobodies.

On their way down to the water, Axel, Namine and Roxas came past a beach chair, in which a brooding Zexion was studying a rather large book that was lying in his lap.

"What you still sitting over that thing?" Axel mocked. "Isn't it getting boring?"

"Excuse me, but there is still a lot to be found out about our current situation, the scholar murmured while turning the page. "Beings like us are not supposed to exist anywhere, so where did this island come from? Are we on a world? And more important, how is it that we suddenly are able to feel emotions? We still were able to remember them, back in the days of the Organization... but we all acted as if we had emotions. We have no hearts! Such thing should not be possible!"

"Yadda, yadda, yadda..." Axel grumbled. "So what? Are you saying you don't enjoy our newfound free time? Isn't this what we wanted all this time?"

Zexion looked over the rim of his glasses. "Actually, no, I'm not quite amused with being stuck on a lonely island in the middle of an ocean that is otherwise uninhabited."

"That's because you don't know how to have FUN!" another voice screeched, and Zexion had no time to blink when he saw the water balloon headed in his direction.

SPLASH!

Namine tried very hard to stifle a giggle when the water ran down Zexion's face and hair. Roxas and Axel, however, were roaring with laughter.

A slender, blonde girl wearing a pink string bikini and a smug smirk on her face was standing in front of them, throwing another water balloon up and catching it with the other hand. "Will you finally join us or do I need to throw another one?"

Zexion picked the remains of the first water balloon from his face. "Larxene..." he muttered.

"Yeah?" the blonde grinned.

"Don't do that again!" Zexion grumbled.

"Do WHAT again?"

"You know what I mean."

"Mean what?"

"I mean, throwing a water ballon in my face!"

Larxene looked at the other balloon in her hand. "Oh, you mean this?"

"Yes!" Zexion said through gritted teeth.

"Are you suuuure you want that?" she asked him teasingly.

"Yes, I am sure."

She shrugged. "Well, okay..." And then, she threw the second water balloon, which splashed right into Zexion's face.

Zexion stood up and stormed at Larxene. "Larxene! Give me those water balloons!"

"Sorry, can't do that!" Larxene giggled as she ran away.

"GIVE THEM TO ME!" Zexion yelled as he ran after her.

"TRY TO CATCH ME FIRST!" Larxene laughed as the blue-haired scholar chased her along the beach.

"Wow..." Namine muttered. "This is the first time she made someone run after her..."

Laughing, the three kept on walking. Further down the beach, the other ex-members of Organization XIII had put up everything they needed for their little beach party. Demyx was standing on a small, wooden podium and strummed his sitar, while Lexaeus, Xigbar, Marluxia and Xaldin were playing a two-on-two game of beach volleyball. When Roxas looked to the water, he could see how Vexen was rushing past the scene on a surfboard which looked like his shield.

Luxord was standing at the grill. Roxas noticed that his Hawaiian shirt looked much better to the eyes than Axel's horrible pink combo.

"Hey guys, welcome to the party!" the gambled smirked. "I know you probably can't wait to get a taste of the 'barbecue à la Luxord... so, you wanna have your steak raw, medium or well done?"

"I'd like mine medium, please," Namine spoke up.

"One medium steak, coming right up, ma'am!" Luxord smirked as he flipped one of the steaks up with his spatula, catching it with a plate he quickly picked from the table.

"Hey, Roxas, why don't you join the game?" Xigbar asked. "We could use a great player like you on our team!"

"Oh, and what am I, the reserve player?" Axel frowned.

"Hey, if you don't hurry with your game, your steak will be all black," Luxord reminded them.

The music abruptly ended. "Food?" Demyx grinned as he climbed off his stage. "I'm SO there!"

Marluxia, Lexaeus and Xaldin looked over to where the others were standing, and enjoying steaks and fried sausages.

"You know, the game really can wait..." Marluxia murmured.

Xaldin nodded. "Indeed..."

"What are you saying, Xaldin?" Xigbar protested. "We were gonna win!"

"But I'm hungry..." Lexaeus said.

Xigbar sighed. "Oh man..."

"Hey guys, would you look at me?" Vexen whooped as he posed on his surfboard. "I'm the king of the waves!"

To put it short, the former Nobodies were having one heck of a time.

Later, they were all sitting on the beach and looked at the sunset, while Demyx was playing a calm tune on his sitar. Even Larxene and Zexion got tired of their chase and joined the others.

Xigbar sighed. "Guys, whatever happened to us to make this possible... I'm telling ya, this life is just perfect!"

"Can't argue with that," Axel sighed contently as he lay down on the sand.

"Now if only all of us were here to enjoy it..." Xaldin murmured.

The others looked at the ground.

"You just had to bring that one up, didn't you?" Luxord sighed.

"He's right, though..." Xigbar mumbled. "It's not half as fun as it would with the boss and our lil' berserker..."

"Hey, let's face it, guys!" Demyx said, trying to make a joke. "Those two were stiffer than the inhabitants of the Underworld... wouldn't they just try to spoil our fun?"

"But... we got our emotions back," Zexion pointed out. "What if it's the same with them?"

Axel scratched the back of his head. "You know, I can't really imagine Xemnas or Saix with emotions..."

"That's because you didn't know Xehanort or Sai before they were turned into Nobodies," Xigbar reminded him. "No matter what they did, or what happened to them, if we deserve a chance to live, why don't they?"

"But are we alive?" Zexion asked. "This island is the only place where we truly can be ourselves... as soon as we leave for other worlds, we turn into spirits that can't affect anyone or anything. Maybe we are dead. Maybe this is our purgatory..."

"We are Nobodies! Beings without hearts!" Larxene shouted. "We aren't even supposed to exist!"

"Beings without hearts... and yet we still have feelings," Zexion reminded her. "It first started with Roxas and Namine... they have both been able to feel emotions, even though they were Nobodies. But they were the only ones..."

"That is... not quite true..." Axel quietly spoke up.

Everyone looked at him in surprise. "Come again?" Demyx asked.

"The sun must have baked his brain," Vexen assumed.

"I'm telling you the truth!" Axel proclaimed. "Weren't you surprised that I was so intent on seeing Roxas again? How could I see myself as his friend? I was a Nobody and had no heart. Still, I wanted to have him back."

"Hey, no need to get sentimental, buddy!" Roxas smirked and nudged his friend.

"I'm just stating the truth," Axel insisted. "Xemnas always preached that we couldn't have any emotions, since we were Nobodies, and that our behavior was just a mask... and I agree that this was the case with most of you."

"You know, he has a point," Luxord spoke up. "I always acted like the gambler who enjoys a challenge... but then again, it was just a farce to trick my opponents. Now, that we are all here, I have these feelings inside me... and you are saying you had them before you, well... died?" he asked.

Axel nodded. "Yes."

"Intriguing..." Zexion murmured and stroked his chin. "You know, I had a theory about how we could have survived... if you can call it that..."

"And what theory is that?" Demyx wondered.

"The theory that at least shards of our hearts might have found their way back into our bodies," Zexion said.

Everyone was stunned for a while.

"That's... the stupidest thing I have ever heard," Vexen huffed.

"Did you come up with that by yourself or did you read it in that huge book of yours?"

"No, no, he might be onto something..." Xaldin muttered. "You know, after all of us came here for the first time, I could actually... enjoy myself. You know how I was before we came here... I was cold and didn't hesitate to bring suffering to others. Remember what I almost did to the Beast and Belle..."

"Yeah," Demyx nodded. "You were just one step ahead of being the next Saix."

"Demyx, stop that!" Axel said angrily.

"But he's right..." Xaldin sighed. "And that's just what I mean... after having thought at what I've done, I... I felt bad. I honestly wish there was a possibility to apologize to Belle and the former Beast..."

"So you see?" Zexion nodded. "Can you really say such regret can come to a being that has no heart? At least fragments of them must have come back after the Keyblade destroyed our bodies."

"I can still feel the pain..." Marluxia grumbled and scratched his chest.

"That's just your rheumatism speaking," Larxene grinned.

"But if Zexion is right..." Lexaeus pondered. "Can there be true salvation for us?"

"Salvation?" Vexen huffed. "You talk as if there is something like heaven where we can go..."

"Well, even if this is purgatory, there's no way we can get out of here," Xigbar said. "Maybe the 'big guys' up there have forgotten about that."

"Don't make any jokes about that!" Namine told him. "I was ready to forgive you, wasn't I?" She looked at Larxene and Marluxia. "And if I'm willing to forgive you, don't you think others wouldn't do the same?"

"You're... really sweet, kiddo..." Larxene gave her a sad smile.

"We don't really deserve to be forgiven..." Marluxia added grimly.

"Yes, you do!" Namine insisted. "And if you think that you haven't done anything to justify forgiveness, then you must prove it that you aren't the same Nobodies anymore."

"What do you have in mind, Namine?" Luxord sighed. "We can't leave this island, remember?"

"Yes, you can!" Roxas suddenly spoke up. "We tried it, remember? We turn into ghost that can't be heard or seen, but we can leave this place."

"That's right!" Namine smiled. "And I already have an idea what we could do: We could try and help that new friend of Sora and Kairi to find her friends!"

"A great plan, Namine," Zexion sighed. "You're just forgetting one thing: Even if we find them, how could we inform Sora about this if he can't hear or see us?"

"Oh, I think I might have an idea..." Namine grinned and looked over to the table, where her sketch block was lying.

"Still, Sora isn't exactly on the best terms with us," Xigbar said.

"You think he's still angry at us for trying to take his memories?" Marluxia asked sarcastically.

"Well... but he knows Roxas, Namine and I were on his side shortly before we 'left'," Axel reminded them. "And do you really think Sora's the kind of Keyblade Master to hold a grudge?"

"I can't believe you're actually suggesting this," Vexen huffed.

"You have a better idea?" Axel.

"Well, it would still be better than just staying here on this island forever..." Larxene sighed. "Throwing a party every day can get a bit boring..."

Lexaeus stood up. "I'm for it."

Luxord nodded. "Yeah, me too!"

"Me too!" Xaldin agreed.

"I guess you can count me in as well," Demyx smirked.

Vexen sighed. "Fine, fine... but, we don't know much more than Sora and his friends. How do we know where we are supposed to start searching for those kids?"

"Anywhere," Roxas said. "Start with the worlds we are familiar with, then we should visit the ones we haven't visited yet. That might take a bit time, but remember that we can quickly travel form one world to another in our spirit forms, even without Gummi Ships or Corridors of Darkness."

"I think someone should also take a look at our old 'friend', Maleficent," Xigbar smirked. "I've been wondering for a long time what Miss Grouchy is up to in our old home..."

"So it's settled?" Namine smiled happily as she jumped to her feet as well. "Okay, while you go and search, I will try something, so I can talk to Kairi... Roxas, can you stay and help me?"

"Um, s-sure," the blonde boy muttered.

Everyone chuckled when they saw his embarrassed face.

"Go get 'er, buddy..." Axel whispered before he and the others left.

"Namine... you... you didn't just send the others away so we could enjoy some private time, right?" Roxas asked her. "You really think you can contact Kairi, right?"

"Stop saying stupid things and come along," Namine smirked as she took her sketch book. "Our friends need our help!"


	11. Hellfire

"So... you don't mind that we stay here for now?" T.K. asked.

"No, not at all," the hunchback he knew from so many books and movies smiled. "Make yourselves at home, this is a house of god, after all... we would never turn down anyone who comes in here."

"Not even... me?" Patamon asked, pointing at himself with a hoof.

"Hey, don't worry! We're not exactly quite normal either," the gargoyle known as Hugo smirked.

"Ain't that the truth..." Laverne mumbled.

"Croissants for our guests!" Victor smiled as he put a basket next to the young Digidestined and his partner, filled with fresh, french, baked goods.

"Thanks!" T.K. said and took a croissant. Taking a bite, he then asked: "So... you've lived here all your life?"

"Yes," Quasimodo smiled sadly. "The people out there... they are not like you or your friend. They would never accept a... a monster among them."

"A monster?" Patamon wondered. "Where's a monster?"

"He means himself..." Laverne sighed. "Quasi, we talked about this... you are not a monster, you hear me?"

"True, you are just special," Hugo grinned. "You're one of a kind."

"Thanks for your kind words, guys," Quasimodo sighed. "But I know what I look like..."

"Well, you might not look like all the other guys out there, but you, um, certainly got a... certain something more."

"Everyone needs to find his place first," Patamon said confidently. "That's something T.K. and I learned as well while we were in the Digital World."

Quasimodo wordlessly shuffled over to the balustrade, from where he looked down, into the nave of Notre-Dame.

"You certainly look like you're good friends..." the bellringer murmured. "But dreams don't come true for everyone..."

T.K. walked up to him and followed his gaze. Down there, walking past the candles, was a beautiful woman with dark skin and raven black hair, wearing clothes that looked a bit more exotic than what most people would wear in these times.

"Who is she?" Patamon whispered to the gargoyles.

"A gipsy girl called Esmeralda," Victor whispered back. "Quasimodo met her while he was in town... and now she's hiding here from the vassals of the judge Frollo."

"Why? What did she do?" Patamon wondered.

"Nothing... only that she is a gipsy. And that is enough for Frollo to throw anyone he doesn't like into the dungeon."

"That's... horrible!" Patamon gasped. "Can't we do anything against him?"

"Well, I would do it right away, if I could," Hugo said with a dark frown. "There's only one small problem..."

"And... that is?"

Victor sighed. "He's the foster father of Quasimodo."

T.K. thought about it. He wasn't that familiar with the novel, but the names Esmeralda and Frollo were familiar to him. But... wasn't Frollo a priest in the books?

Wanting to make sure that they were talking about the same man, he asked: "This Frollo... is he a religious man?"

Hugo snorted. "You're asking if he's religious? Boy, that man practically takes his bible to bed with him."

* * *

Judge Claude Frollo was standing in front of the fireplace, over which a white marble figure was hanging.

"Beata Maria..." he quietly mumbled to himself. "You know I am a righteous man, of my virtue I can just be proud...

Beata Maria, you know I'm so much purer than the common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd."

With every word, he approached the fireplace even more.

"Then tell me, Maria, why I see her dancing there, why her smoldering eyes still scorch my soul..."

Outside, in front of the doors leading to Frollo's chambers, two soldiers were standing guard.

"Does he talk to the fire again?" one of them whispered.

"Worse..." the other one whispered back. "This time, he's SINGING!"

In front of Frollo's delusional eyes, the flames transformed into the likeness of the gipsy girl he had seen during the carnival.

"I feel her, I see her, the sun caught in her raven hair is blazing in me out of all control. Like fire - hellfire - this fire in my skin! This burning desire is turning me to sin!"

Suddenly, the image of Esmeralda disappeared in a plume of fire that came shooting out of the fireplace... and this time, it wasn't just in Frollo's mind.

The judge gasped in fright when the fire surrounded his body with a circle of flames, and at the same time, turned from red to green.

"My god... what is happening?" he gasped. "It... it's not my fault... it's in god's plan... he makes the devil so much stronger than a man!"

"Claude Frollo!" a booming, but female voice came out of the fire.

"Wh-what?" Frollo asked. He shuddered. Could it be...?

A pair of eyes were glaring at him, eyes from a woman who had a pair of black horns on her head. "No, I am not the one you have addressed in your speech... however, I am here to warn you: Your soul is doomed! You have failed to do your duties, and thus you will burn in hell for all eternity!"

And for one time in his life of power and control, Frollo felt a tinge of fear for his immortal soul.

"No, no, nothing but that!" Frollo shouted. "Please, I always tried to do whatever the Lord told me... is it because of the gipsy witch? Or wait, is it because I spared Quasimodo?"

"SILENCE!" Maleficent shouted. Frollo, who couldn't know that this devilish apparition was not a creature from hell, winced under her voice. Shaking like a leaf, he dropped down to his knees. "Please... please, I'll do anything..."

"There is a way how you can save your soul, Frollo!" Maleficent told him. "A boy has arrived in Paris tonight... a young boy, accompanied by a dark creature of evil... you will bring them to me..."

"Yes..." Frollo murmured. "Yes, I will do as you say..."

"And don't you fail me!" the apparition commanded, before she vanished in another plume of flame.

The door opened and the two soldiers came running inside. "Sir, we heard strange sounds... what happened?" Then they gasped when they saw the flames that were still dancing around Frollo. "What... what is this?"

"Witchcraft!" the other one yelled.

"No..." Frollo murmured. "No, these are just the flames of justice... of righteousness... of salvation!" He made a gesture, and the flames seemed to jump at the two men. "And just like they will help me, you will be also my soldiers who bring justice down on all the evil I will face!"

And when the fire engulfed the soldiers, they let out horrible screams as they transformed... and turned into black, winged creatures with wicked-looking swords in their hands.

"Like the avenging angels of heaven, you shall be my sword," Frollo told the two Invisible Heartless, which he believed to be angelic warriors that were empowered by the holy fire. "Find the heathens and bring them before me... for their final judgement!"

And after the Heartless had left the room, the insane judge knelt down in front of the fireplace. "God have mercy on them..." he murmured. "God have mercy on me..."

His thoughts then went back to Esmeralda, and his face turned into a grimace of madness. "But she will be mine or she will BURN!"


	12. A persistent ghost

"Ah, c'mon, Davis..." Veemon grumbled. "If that guy doesn't want to help us, we'll have to find the way out of here by ourselves..."

"Out of here?" Kovu asked with a grin. "Can't find the way back to the Pride Lands? Well, you shouldn't have come here in the first place, then..."

"Will you stop it already?" Davis shouted, his fur ruffled. "We're not from any Pride Land, okay?"

"Hah, do you think I'm stupid?" Kovu hissed. "There are no leopards roaming the Outlands... the only ones that live here besides swamp crocs and termites are us outcast lions."

"Well, that's no surprise!" Davis shouted back. "You're an annoying brat, I wouldn't want you to live next to me!"

"Grrrrr..." the dark-furred lion cub grumbled. "Snooty Pride Lander... take THIS!" And without any warning, he tackled Davis to the ground, nearly throwing him into the muddy river they were standing next to.

"Hey, cut that out!" Davis growled. "Okay, you asked for it, buddy..."

He fought back, and the two cubs were rolling around on the ground.

"Get him, Davis!" Veemon cheered his friend on. "Bite his tail! Use those sharp teeth of yours!"

He wished he could help his partner somehow, but he couldn't start any attack right now without risking to hurt Davis in the process.

Besides, it looked like Davis wanted to handle this one.

Finally, Davis had pinned the lion cub to the ground. "Do you yield?" he mumbled, his mouth around Kovu's tail.

"Never!" Kovu hissed. "Not to a Pride Lander!"

"Hey, we're NOT Pride Landers, don't you get it?" Veemon asked.

"Well, where else are you from, if not from the Pride Lands?" Kovu growled.

"We are..." But just as Davis wanted to answer, a deep grumbling sound made him perk up his leopard ears.

"Veemon, what was that?"

Veemon looked down at his belly. "It can't be my tummy," he said. "I just ate before going to bed..."

"That was no lion's snarl either," Kovu spoke up. Even though he was still pinned to the ground, he was nervously looking around as well. "That can mean only one thing..."

"Well, and what's that?" Davis asked. He had a bad feeling about this.

"CROCODILES!" Kovu yelled. The two cubs jumped away just in time, as a giant pair of reptilian jaws closed itself right where they had been just a moment ago.

"Davis, watch out!" Veemon shouted. "VEE-HEADBUTT!"

His head rammed against the massive head of the crocodile, knocking it back. The carnivorous reptile hissed angrily, but its scaly hide protected it from a serious injury.

"It's not alone..." Kovu murmured when he saw how numerous other crocodiles came crawling out of the river. "But... they look so strange... those are no normal crocodiles..."

"They somehow remind me of the creatures we fought," Davis said when he saw the black scales and the glowing eyes of the crocodiles.

"Well, I'm ready to take them on!" Veemon said as he stepped in front of his partner. "I guess it's Digivolution time!"

"You got it!" Davis nodded. He reached for the Digivice that was dangling around his neck with his paw. "Thank goodness it didn't disappear along with my clothes..." he murmured. Then he raised the Digivice into the air. "Digi-Armor Energize!"

Kovu jumped back in surprise when flames surrounded Veemon's body. "Wh-what?" he gasped.

"Veemon Armor Digivolve to... Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage!"

The taller, armored dragon Digimon faced the Heartless crocodiles. "Come on, you creepy things!" he shouted.

The Crushjaw Heartless roared at him and attacked with snapping jaws.

"Fire Rocket!" Flamedramon shouted and threw a couple of fireballs at the Heartless. A couple of them disappeared, but the others kept on coming. One of them lunged at Flamedramon, aiming for his neck.

"Not so fast, lizard lips!" the fire warrior shouted and kicked the crocodile on its back. Flamedramon's eyes then widened. "Davis! Would you take a look, there's a strange emblem on their bellies..."

"That's not important now!" Davis yelled. "Finish them!"

"Oh, right!"

"This isn't happening..." Kovu murmured again and again while scooting backwards on all four paws. "This isn't happening..."

He watched in awe how the bipedal, armored lizard that had just a few minutes ago been as small as himself, surrounded itself with a burning aura and dove at the ghastly, black crocodiles.

Flamedramon smirked to himself as the Heartless disappeared and the gleaming hearts rose up into the air, disappearing themselves. "That's the last of them!"

"Good work, buddy!" Davis cheered.

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!" Kovu yelled, making Davis jump in surprise. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?"

"Why, Kovu..." a sinister voice spoke up. "Don't tell me you're afraid... I would expect more from my heir..."

Kovu gasped and turned around. Behind him floating slightly above the ground, stood a ghostly apparition, the shadowy image of a lion. A lion with a black mane and a scar on his face..."

"And this is the boy who is supposed to follow in my footsteps?" the ghost of Scar sneered. "I didn't think Zira would raise such a coward..."

"Y-y-you're... S-s-scar..." Kovu mumbled as he stared at the ghostly image.

"Surprise!" the ghost chuckled. "Aren't you glad to see me?"

"Hey! Whoever you are, stop fooling around!" Davis shouted as he jumped next to Kovu. "You're the one who sent these monsters, aren't you?"

"The Heartless prey on everyone who has a weak heart," the ghost hissed. "Seems like only the Fire of Courage was enough to save this little coward..."

These words apparently hit a nerve, since Kovu stopped shaking. "H-hey, I'm not a coward!" he shouted. "I can become stronger, just you wait?"

"Oh, is that so?" Scar's ghost smiled. "I'll be ready to believe it when I see proof..." And with a burst of darkness, the apparition vanished.

Kovu gulped.

Davis looked at the lion cub. "Say... do you know this guy?"

* * *

"So this is Simba's home world?" Kairi asked as she looked through the Highwind's cockpit, at the world that was floating in front of them.

"Yes, and if the Gummi Ship brought us here first, there must be a reason to it," Sora nodded. "We just might find one of your friends down there," he told Kari.

"Well, I certainly hope so," the Digidestined of Light said. "I hope nothing has happened to them... say, is that a particularly dangerous world?"

"Well, that depends on how many Heartless are currently on this world," Sora said. "Most of the natives I met were pretty nice... except for the hyenas, of course. But, there's something else you should know about this world... and you too, Kairi."

"And what's that?" Kairi wondered as she stepped next to her boyfriend close confidant.

"Um, well, it's like this... the last time Donald, Goofy and I were on that world, we turned into, um... animals."

"Uh... animals?" Kari blinked.

"Yeah, animals... Donald assumed that it was the magic of my clothes that transformed us, you know, the clothes I got from the three fairies... but, I don't really think so. He also wanted to make me believe that it was him who turned me into a merman when I was visiting Ariel's home world, but I believe that many worlds somehow 'recognize' visitors and give them a form to fit in. And since there obviously aren't that much humans living in the Pride Lands..."

"And... in what kind of animal did you transform?" Gatomon wondered.

Sora scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Um... into a lion."

"Really?" Kari asked with awe. "A big, powerful lion with powerful paws and a majestic mane?"

"Actually... I turned into a lion cub..."

Kairi grinned. "Awww, how cuuute... I've GOT to see this! C'mon, let's get going!"

Sora sighed as they walked over to the transporter. "Looks like Donald was right..." he muttered. "She really does think it's cute..."

Four flashes of light later, and they were all standing in the middle of the Pride Lands... only that Gatomon was the only one who hadn't changed.

Sora had turned into his lion cub form, as usual. Next to him stood a female lion cub with a tuft of red hair on her head. On their side, there was a cute little meerkat with a shrunken camera and a miniature Digivice dangling from her neck.

Gatomon stared down at her furry partner. "You know, it's pretty weird not to be the one who transforms for a change..."

Kari looked at herself and suddenly eeped. "My clothes! Where did they go?"

"Oh, right, I should have told you," Sora grinned. "Most of your clothes disappear when you turn into an animal."

"Well, at least my camera's still there," Kari said. "And it even shrunk, so I can still use it... Wow, this place is so beautiful!" she gushed as she looked at the wide, grassy plains they were standing on.

"Well, this place sure has changed since I last was here," Sora commented. "For the better."

"I have to take a few photos!" Kari grinned. "Ooooooh, and what's that giant rock formation in the distance?"

Sora smiled. "That... is Pride Rock! Simba's home..."


End file.
